Ecto- and endo-parasitism of Ditylenchus destructor on garlic roots

What is it about?

Garlic is an important crop used as a condiment and cultivated worldwide. Ditylenchus destructor (Potato-rot nematode) is a pest that required great attention in garlic production because this nematode causes severe rotting of harvested garlic bulbs. D. destructor is detected in several parts of garlic, such as roots, basal plates and bulbs at the harvest stage. However, the infection mechanisms of D. destructor remain unclear. Our study focused on D. destructor infection in garlic roots. At the early infection stage, this nematode appeared to feed on and propagated outside of garlic roots. In contrast, this nematode penetrated to inside of the garlic root at a later infection stage. This is the novelty in our research, it led us to speculate that D. destructor appears to parasitise the roots in two steps. We believed that our findings may contribute to further research to elucidate the interactions between D. destructor and garlic plants and help develop novel management methods for controlling garlic damage in the future.

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