Carbohydrate Profile of Root-knot Nematode, Meloidogyne Incognita Infecting Leguminous Plants: A Review

Abstract

Carbohydrates are the most abundant class of organic compounds found in living organisms. They originate as products of photosynthesis, an endothermic reductive condensation of carbon dioxide requiring light energy and the pigment chlorophyll. The carbohydrates are the major source of metabolic energy, both for plants and the animals and the later depend on plants for their food. The estimation of carbohydrates plays an important part in both pure and applied plant physiology. While satisfactory methods of extracting and determining the individual types of carbohydrates are available, the complete fractionation of these is a tedious process. Furthermore, for many purposes of a more applied nature the determination of the total available carbohydrate content is of greater significance than that of individual or groups of carbohydrates. The term "total available carbohydrate" may be defined as all those carbohydrates which can be used in the plant body as a source of energy or as building material, either directly or indirectly after having been broken down by enzymes. In most ordinary, higher green plants the bulk of available carbohydrate is composed of sugars, fructosans, dextrin and starch, whereas hemicelluloses and true cellulose act merely as structural materials and as such cannot further be utilized in the same way as the former. The total carbohydrate content of the leaves of nematode inoculated plants has found to be decreased with increasing level of egg masses inoculum.  In the plant extracts treated experimental plants the total carbohydrate content is increased with increasing concentrations of plant extracts. The present study clearly indicated that plant extracts to control the nematodes and enhance the biochemical components for better growth of leguminous plants. Hence, the present investigation has been aimed to estimate the level of carbohydrates in the leaves of nematode infected plants and in normal plants.

Keywords: legume plants, nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita, carbohydrate