Identification of Heterodera schachtii on sugar beet in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China

The sugar beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii, is a major parasite of sugar beet which has been recognized and listed as a quarantine nematode in China and more than 20 countries and regions worldwide. A survey for important nematodes was undertaken in the sugar beet planting area of China during 2015-2018, and numerous cysts were collected from sugar beet fields in Xinyuan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. The observations of morphological and morphometric characteristics revealed that cysts, vulval cones and second-stage juveniles of the Xinjiang population were in the same range of each other and within those of other reported H. schachtii populations. Molecular analysis of rDNA-ITS, 28S-D2/D3 and mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene sequences suggested that the Xinjiang population clustered in a branch with those foreign populations, and the sequence similarity was as high as 99.81-100%. Moreover, this result was confirmed by PCR assay with species-specific primer SHF6 and rDNA2 of H. schachtii, and the pathogenicity test confirmed successful Xinjiang population reproduction in both plant hosts. In conclusion, based on morphological and molecular characterization, this study confirmed that the cyst nematode population collected from sugar beet fields in Xinjiang is H. schachtii. As far as we know, this is the first report

Automated summary

The sugar beet cyst nematode population collected from sugar beet fields in Xinjiang was confirmed to be H. schachtii based on morphological and molecular characterization.