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Pest Description
HETERODERA GOETTINGIANA
IDENTITY: Scientific name: Heterodera goettingiana
Liebscher, 1892
Common name: Pea cyst nematode

NOTES ON TAXONOMY AND BIOLOGY: Like other cyst forming nematodes, it has sedentary endoparasitic habits. Cysts are persistent tanned sacs derived by the female body and contain the eggs. Cysts persist in soil for many years. Second-stage juveniles (J2) emerge from the cysts, penetrate host roots and establish a specialized feeding site (syncytium) in the stele. They develop into swollen females, which retain the eggs and produce egg masses. Females rupture root cortex and protrude from root surface. At the end of the reproductive phase, females die and become lemon shaped brown cysts. These cysts are ambifenestrate and lack bullae and sometimes an underbridge.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This nematode is common in Europe (Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The Netherlands and UK). It also occurs in Algeria, China, Israel, and Jordan (Di Vito and Greco, 1986; Di Vito, 1991). There is no evidence that this nematode occurs in Japan. The pea cyst nematode was introduced into the United States, where it has been detected on green pea grown under field conditions. Eradication attempts and appropriate action have been implemented at state level in order to prevent the spread of this pest to other pea producing states. In the past, greenhouse cultures of this pest were maintained in Idaho, Illinois and Pennsylvania (Thorne, 1961).

HOSTS: This nematode infects leguminous plants. Broad bean (Vicia faba) and garden pea (Pisum sativum) are the most seriously damaged field crops. Other leguminous plants rated as poor hosts include the agronomic crops, alfalfa (Medicago sativa), Austrian winter pea (P. sativum var. arvense) bitter pea (Vicia ervilla), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), grasspea (Lathyrus sativus), lentil (Lens culinaris), lupine (Lupinus albus), purple vetch (Vicia benghalensis), soybean (Glycine max), sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus), tufted vetch (V. cracca), vetch (Vicia sp.), yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus) and two wild legumes, Lathyrus cicera and Vicia calcarata.

CROP LOSSES: Nematode damage to field pea is serious and compounded by concomitant Fusarium oxysporum infections. In field studies, yield suppression as great as 75% has been recorded (Di Vito and Greco, 1986).

MEANS OF MOVEMENT AND DISPERSAL: This cyst nematode is dispersed with soil debris, plant material and machinery contaminated with the cysts.

RATING: (M) Taking into consideration the damage caused by this nematode in Europe and the fact of the introduction and establishment of this pest in Washington State, we urge regulatory agencies in commercial pea producing states to adopt adequate measures in order to prevent the spread of this pest from infested areas to other pea growing areas in the US. Appropriate actions should be evaluated by APHIS in order to minimize the risks of introduction of this nematode from other countries.

REFERENCES:
    CAB International. 2001. Hetrodera goettingianaein Crop protection compendium, global module, 3rd editon. Wallingford, UK: CAB International.
Di Vito, M. and N. Greco. 1991. The pea cyst nematode: Heterodera goettingiana. Nematology Circular No. 188, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, Gainesville , Florida, US A.
    Di Vito M., and N. Greco. 1986. The pea cyst nematode. Pp.321-332 in F. Lamberti and C.E. Taylor  eds. Cyst nematodes New York and London: Plenum Press.
Stone, A. R., and J. A. Course. 1974. Heterodera goettingiana. CIH descriptions of plant parasitic nematodes, Set 4, No. 47. St. Albans, UK: Commonwealth Institute of Helminthology.
    Thorne, G. 1961. Principles of nematology. Pp. 296-297, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.