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WHOLE PLANT AND ECOPHYSIOLOGY

Aphid Infestation Causes Different Changes in Carbon and Nitrogen Allocation in Alfalfa Stems as Well as Different Inhibitions of Longitudinal and Radial Expansion¹

Unité de Recherches de Zoologie (C.G.) and d'Écophysiologie des Plantes Fourragères (B.M.), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, F–86600 Lusignan, France; Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, California 95616–8627 (W.S.); and Unité Mixte de Recherche/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 6161, Université de Poitiers, F–86022 Poitiers, France (J.-L.B.)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) stem elongation is strongly reduced by a pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris) infestation. As pea aphid is a phloem feeder that does not transmit virus or toxins, assimilate withdrawal is generally considered as the main mechanism responsible for growth reduction. Using a kinematic analysis, we investigated the spatial distributions of relative elemental growth rates of control and infested alfalfa stems. The water, carbon, and nitrogen contents per unit stem length were measured along the growth zone. Deposition rates and growth-sustaining fluxes were estimated from these patterns. Severe short-term aphid infestation (200 young adults over a 24-h period) induced a strong and synchronized reduction in rates of elongation and of water and carbon deposition. Reduced nitrogen content and associated negative nitrogen deposition rates were observed in some parts of the infested stems, especially in the apex. This suggested a mobilization of nitrogen from the apical part of the growth zone, converted from a sink tissue into a source tissue by aphids. Calculation of radial growth rates suggested that aphid infestation led to a smaller reduction in radial expansion than in elongation. Together with earlier observations of long-lasting effects of a short-term infestation, this supports the hypothesis that in addition to nutrient withdrawal, a thigmomorphogenesis-like mechanism is involved in the effect of aphid infestation on stem growth.

² Present address: UMR PIAF INRA, 234 Avenue du Brézet, F–63039 Clermont-Ferrand cedex 2, France.

Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.104.057430.

^* Corresponding author; e-mail girousse{at}clermont.inra.fr; fax 33–473–62–44–57.

Received December 13, 2004; returned for revision February 25, 2005; accepted March 1, 2005.

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