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Characteristics of harmfulness and identification of European dodder seed

For agronomists

1 min read

Семена повилики европейской
Seeds of the European dodder

The European dodder is a dangerous parasitic weed that contaminates finished plant products with its seeds and fruit capsules. This parasite lives at the expense of other plants, attaching itself to them and extracting nutrients. The weed spreads rapidly, reduces yield, and contaminates seed material, causing farms to incur serious losses.

All species of the genus Cuscuta (Dodder family) are included in the "List of pests, plant diseases, and weeds of quarantine significance for the Russian Federation."

The weed is completely poisonous to livestock animals. The alkaloid cuscutine, the glycoside convolvulin, and saponins contained within it cause severe damage to the gastrointestinal tract of livestock, which can lead to a fatal outcome.

The parasite affects a wide range of cultivated and wild species in various natural and climatic zones. The weed is common in the European part of Russia (almost everywhere, including northern regions), in Siberia, in the Far East, as well as in Crimea, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

The following groups of plants are under threat from the European dodder:

  • industrial and row crops: hemp, tobacco, hops, potato;
  • grain legumes: lupine, beans;
  • vegetable crops: cabbage seed plants;
  • berry bushes: currant, gooseberry.

How to identify the pest's seeds

The weed's capsules have an ovoid-globular shape. The seeds themselves are globular-angular, slightly tapering towards the base, with slightly two-faced depressed facets on the ventral side. The seed hilum is oblique, rounded, and slightly depressed; a light wart is sometimes visible in its center.

The seed surface is spongy-rough and covered with small pits and dots. The color varies from grayish-brown and yellowish-brown to dark shades, with the seed hilum usually being darker than the rest of the seed.

  • Seed length — 11,5 mm
  • Width and thickness — 0,751,25 mm
  • Affected plants — more than 100 species

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