Hydraulic conductivity in roots of ponderosa pine infected with black-stain (Leptographium wageneri) or annosus (Heterobasidion annosum) root disease.

Roots from healthy and diseased mature ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa Laws., trees were excavated from a site near Burns, Oregon. The diseased trees were infected with black-stain root disease, Leptographium wageneri Kendrick, or annosus root disease, Heterobasidion annosum (Fr.) Bref., or both. Axial hydraulic conductivity of the roots was measured under a positive head pressure of 5 kPa, and the conducting area was stained with safranin dye to determine specific conductivity (k(s)). In diseased roots, only 8-12% of the cross-sectional xylem area conducted water. Resin-soaked xylem completely restricted water transport and accounted for 13-16% of the loss in conducting area. In roots with black-stain root disease, 17% of the loss in conducting area was associated with unstained xylem, possibly resulting from occlusions or embolisms. Based on the entire cross-sectional area of infected roots, the k(s) of roots infected with black-stain root disease was 4.6% of that for healthy roots, whereas the k(s) of roots infected with annosus root disease was 2.6% of that for healthy roots. Although these low values were partly the result of the presence of a large number of diseased roots (72%) with no conducting xylem, the k(s) of functional xylem of diseased roots was only 33% of that for healthy roots. The low k(s) values of functional xylem in diseased roots may be caused by fungus induced occlusions preceding cavitation and embolism of tracheids. The k(s) of disease-free roots from diseased trees was only 70% of that for healthy roots from healthy trees. The disease-free roots had the same mean tracheid diameter and tissue density as the healthy roots, suggesting that the lower k(s) in disease-free roots of diseased trees may also have been caused by partial xylary occlusions.