Comparison of morphological characteristics of gall and branches of species salix alba

The willow tree is a deformed tissue that is formed at the same time as the feeding or spawning activity of eriophid ticks. With the aim of investigating and comparing the morphological characteristics of gall and healthy branches, in the spring of ۱۳۹۹, healthy and gall branches from Najvan Park in Isfahan were collected completely randomly with ۶ replications. Relative water contents, length and width of leaves, and the length of the petioles, internodes, weight, and area were of leaves measured. The results showed that length, width, leaf area and weight in gall branches were significantly lower than those without gall branches. There was an increase in the relative water content of the leaves in the gallbladder branches compared to the gall-free branches, but this increase was not significant. The results of this study indicate that the changes observed in the leaves in trees with the presence of galls cause the tree to react to ticks, which weakens the environmental conditions of the habitat. Therefore, due to the absorption of nutrients in the gall, it is considered a kind of danger and threat to the plant.

کلیدواژه ها:

Eriophyte mite ، Leaf length ، Leaf weight ، Relative water content