Hand-cut cross-sections were made from the base of the stem of both the inoculated and mock-treated cotton plants at 14 d after treatment. Lignin histochemistry was examined using Wiesner reagent (Pomar et al., 2004 ). Cross-sections were incubated for 10 min in a phloroglucinol solution (2% in 95% ethanol) or 95% ethanol (staining control), treated with 18% HCl for 5 min, and directly observed with a bright-field microscope using a Leica fluorescence microscope (DM2500, Leica, Wetzlar, Germany).