Study of morphological and internal changes in intact and gall branches of willow (Salix babylonica)

The deformation of plant tissues induced by some insects is called gall that is induced by various parasitic organisms, mainly insects, and generally served as nutrition and protection from both abiotic factors and natural enemies. Galls on willow trees (Salix babylonica L.) is the effect of a series of morphogenetic changes in plant cells, in contrast, the Eriophydae mites attack. In this study, randomly sampling from intact, and gall branch of willow trees of Najvan Park, Isfahan city was done. Changes in length, leaf weight, and the distance between nodes, total chlorophyll, and phenolic compounds were studied. Length, leaf weight, distance between nodes, total chlorophyll statistically significant decrease in infected branches compared to intact branches. But the amount of phenolic compounds in infected twigs was more than intact one. These increases were statistically significant. Reduction in the amounts of photosynthetic pigments probably was the cause of oxidative damage in gall branches. Since the host survival causes remaining of the parasite, therefore accumulation of phenolic compounds in infected branches raises plant resistance against oxidative stresses

کلیدواژه ها:

Gall ، Willow ، Morphological change ، Total chlorophyll ، Phenolic compounds