Phytophthora Cinnamomi - Life Cycle and Effects On Plants

Life Cycle and Effects On Plants

P. cinnamomi lives in the soil and in plant tissues, can take different shapes and can move in water. During periods of harsh environmental conditions, the organisms become dormant chlamydospores. When environmental conditions are suitable, the chlamydospores germinate, producing mycelia (or hyphae) and sporangia. The sporangia ripen and release zoospores, which infect plant roots by entering the root behind the root tip. Zoospores need water to swim through the soil, therefore infection is most likely in moist soils. Mycelia grow throughout the root absorbing carbohydrates and nutrients, destroying the structure of the root tissues, "rotting" the root, and preventing the plant from absorbing water and nutrients. Sporangia and chlamydospores form on the mycelia of the infected root, and the cycle of infection continues to the next plant.

Early symptoms of infection include wilting, yellowing and retention of dried foliage and darkening of root color. Infection often leads to death of the plant, especially in dry summer conditions when plants may be water stressed.

Read more about this topic:  Phytophthora Cinnamomi

Famous quotes containing the words life, cycle, effects and/or plants:

    The literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life, are the topics of the time. It is a great stride. It is a sign,—is it not? of new vigor, when the extremities are made active, when currents of warm life run into the hands and the feet.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
    A medley of extemporanea;
    And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
    And I am Marie of Roumania.
    Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)

    The best road to correct reasoning is by physical science; the way to trace effects to causes is through physical science; the only corrective, therefore, of superstition is physical science.
    Frances Wright (1795–1852)

    When the
    Marne flowed by the plants nodded
    And above the glistering Gila
    A sunset as beautiful as the Athabasca
    Stammered. The Zambezi chimed. The Oxus
    Flowed somewhere.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)