Not known to transmit any human or animal pathogens.

Not known to vector any pathogens or other associated organisms.

This pest is not known to be a vector and it is not vectored by any organism.

Extraction of Heterodera ciceri varies depending on the target life stage, with each method designed to recover females, cysts, eggs, or juveniles from roots or soil. White or yellow females are collected from chickpea roots during the flowering-podding period through gentle root washing and hand??'picking. Mature cysts are isolated from dry soil using flotation-sieving or Fenwick can techniques, which separate the hardened cysts from soil particles. These cysts can then be crushed to release eggs, which are passed through fine sieves for counting or hatching. Infective J2 juveniles are obtained either by incubating eggs or directly from soil using a Baermann funnel or sugar centrifugation, where their natural motility allows them to migrate out of moist soil and accumulate in water.

Mature females and cysts are just visible to the naked eye and can be seen as minute, white, lemon-shaped bodies on the root surface.

Infected plants often show no specific above-ground symptoms that can be used to diagnose infestation by H. ciceri. The most common symptoms include stunted growth, chlorotic yellow leaves, wilting, and early senescence. Infected plants may produce fewer flowers and pods. In the field, patches of stunted plants with chlorotic leaves can appear in small, circular areas. Because these symptoms resemble those caused by other pathogens, or by deficiencies in soil fertility or moisture, definitive diagnosis requires collection and identification of diagnostic life stages. 

See the Pest Datasheet for more details and images.

Surveyors can survey during and after the growing season. In chickpea, lentil, and garden pea, surveys can begin from the flowering stage onwards. White and yellow females and cysts are visible on roots from flowering to the early podding stage. Brown cysts full of eggs appear on older plant roots. In Syria, surveys on winter-sown chickpea typically take place at the end of April (four and a half to five months after sowing); while surveys on spring-sown chickpea occur by mid-May (approximately four months after sowing). Postharvest surveys can occur throughout the year.

If surveying during the growing season, surveyors should perform visual surveys for symptomatic plants and take soil and/or root samples for further diagnosis. 

If surveying after harvest, surveyors can take whole field soil samples using a full field grid survey, similar to the methods used for surveys of potato cyst nematodes. For each acre of surveyed field, a composite sample of at least 68 oz of soil, comprised of at least 100 sub-samples of approximately 0.68 oz of soil each, should be collected, to a depth of approximately 12 inches. Send samples to a qualified nematology diagnostic lab where nematodes will be extracted and identified.

Survey for H. ciceri in chickpea and other host crops. Focus survey efforts on chickpea fields.

Walk through the field or along a crop row and visually search for symptomatic plants, focusing on areas with poor or patchy growth in small, circular patches.

From each sample site, collect about 0.2 oz of infested plant roots and approximately 20 oz of rhizospheric soil (soil surrounding the roots) around the plant for laboratory diagnosis of H. ciceri. A sample may consist of a single symptomatic plant or a cluster of symptomatic plants growing together. Store the samples at 40 °F before processing. Nematode extraction from soil samples has been described by EPPO (2013).

The Nemaplex database (http://nemaplex.ucdavis.edu/Taxadata/G060.aspx) provides resources for identifying cyst-forming nematodes. Greco et al. (1992a) provides a key that helps distinguish H. ciceri from similar species. The original description of H. ciceri from Vovlas et al. (1985) remains the best source for identification. 

Heterodera ciceri is morphologically similar to Heterodera trifolii, H. schachtii, H. rosii, and H. daverti. Among them, H. trifolii and H. schachtii are present in the United States. To differentiate, H. ciceri cysts have a longer underbridge than that of H. schachtii and H. trifolii (115 to 160 µm vs. < 100 µm); second-stage juveniles (J2) of H. ciceri have three lip annuli, while H. trifolii J2 have only one.