Relationship Between the Incidence of Pine Wilt Disease and the Drainage Area

Abstract

We examined the relationship between the incidence of pine wilt disease and moisture conditions in the stand level of Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc. forests in the warm-temperate zone of the western part of Japan. For this analysis, pine trees killed by pine wilt disease were distinguished from the suppressed trees by their position in the layer of the pine forest stand. The drainage area, which is small in the upper part and large in the lower part of the slope, was adopted for representing the moisture conditions in the soil of the slope. The percentage of the pine trees killed by pine wilt disease increased as the size of the drainage area increased. This result suggested that the incidence of pine wilt disease tended to be high in areas with moist conditions. Pine trees attacked by the pinewood nematode die from extensive water deficit due to tracheid cavitations. Pine wilt disease mainly emerges in the summer when the soil water conditions become especially severe, and the radical water stress is thought to accelerate the disease. It was assumed that pine trees in the plots with the small drainage area resisted the influence of the attack of the pinewood nematode because pine trees in the plots with the small drainage area encountered long-term water stress and acquired drought tolerance. Pine trees in the plots with the large drainage area were presumed to be well established in the moist conditions and not to have acquired drought tolerance. The drought tolerance of pine trees was thought to be an important factor in resistance to pine wilt disease.

Key words:

• drainage area
• drought tolerance
• pine wilt disease
• Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.
• water stress