author(s)
Devindrappa, Gautam Chawla and Manjunatha T Gowda

abstract
Indian populations of cereal cyst nematode from Delhi, Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), Leh (Jammu and Kashmir) were studied for their intraspecies characters of morphological and morphometric through light, scanning electron microscopy, sequences of Internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-ribosomal rDNA. Delhi populations of cyst nematode were morphological; morphometric characteristics and Sequence of ITS region showed more than 98% similarity with the H. avenae accession no KC152906. Well-developed underbridge of cone top and the small tail followed by hyaline tail terminus in juveniles was present in the Kangra population as similar to H. filipjevi. Leh population was characterized by comparatively short juveniles (489 μm) with a small stylet (25 μm), anterior end to median bulb length (67 μm), tail (57 μm) and Hyaline region (35 μm); small cysts (L=669 μm) and vulval slit length (5.8 μm). ITS region was much small compared to other populations. Based on morphological, morphometric, and molecular shreds of evidence Leh population was suggested to be a new variant of H. avenae complex. COI sequences were highly unpredictable and BLAST results were erratic w.r.t. its taxonomic importance in this nematode. In silico analysis suggested that restriction enzymes AgeI, BcgI, BsrFI, and BsaWI; Tth111I, PflFI, NciI, and BstXI; and AhdI and FauI had unique restriction sites for ITS sequences of Kangra, Delhi (IARI), and Leh populations, respectively.