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Physiology and Biochemistry

Glyceollin: A Phytoalexin in Leaf Blight of Costus speciosus. S. Kumar, Scientist, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Post Bag No. 1, Ram Sagar Misra Nagar, Lucknow-226016, India; R. S. Shukla(2), K. P. Singh(3), J. D. Paxton(4), and A. Husain(5). (2)(3)Scientists, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Post Bag No. 1, Ram Sagar Misra Nagar, Lucknow-226016, India; (4)Associate professor, College of Agriculture, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 61801, USA; (5)Director, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Post Bag No. 1, Ram Sagar Misra Nagar, Lucknow-226016, India. Phytopathology 74:1349-1352. Accepted for publication 20 June 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-74-1349.

Leaves of Costus speciosus were inoculated with a leaf blight-causing strain of Drechslera rostrata and a nonpathogenic strain of Drechslera longirostrata to investigate the reactions of this plant. D. longirostrata caused accumulation of phytoalexins during the interaction. In contrast, the pathogenic D. rostrata did not cause accumulation of phytoalexins. Glyceollin II and III were the major phytoalexins accumulated in this plant. D. rostrata produced phytotoxic metabolites.