The anatomical and morphological structures responsible for variation in resistance in Milicia progenies to Phytolyma lata attack were investigated. Differences in cell types and cell frequency of eight progenies from the moist and dry semi-deciduous forest zones were determined using fresh leaves from a 3.5-year old Milicia progeny trial plot. Considerable differences in distribution of cell types per square millimetre (mm2) were found in both lines. Resistance was highly related to the presence of tannin localization cells, whiles susceptibility was largely influenced by the relative abundance per square in millimetre of parenchyma, phloem and trichome cells. Tannin localization cells occurred two times more in the resistant Milicia progenies. However differences in tannin localization cells were observed among resistant lines, indicating the variability among individual progenies. It is apparent from our study that the level of resistance in Milicia species may be influenced by cell characteristics of individual progenies. This observation offers a good opportunity to explore the technique of breeding naturally resistant Milicia progenies to Phytolyma.
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