Horticulture and Plantation Crops
Characterization, Diagnosis & Management of Phytoplasmas Vol. 5
Description
Phytoplasmas are among the smallest and simplest of all known self replicating cellular organisms. These uncultivable descendents of Grampositive bacteria belong to a class of cell wall-less microorganisms known as Mollicutes. Phytoplasmas inhabit the phloem of plants and are dispersed in nature by phloem-feeding insect vectors, by vegetative propagation practices or by global transportation of infected plants. Phytoplasmas are the cause of more than a thousand incurable plant diseases worldwide among which those affecting perennial crops such as fruit trees, ornamental or forest trees, sugarcane and grapevine are of greatest economic significance. While infections are not always fatal, they are debilitating, resulting in substantial reductions in yield quality and lifespan of plants. Among the least understood of all plant pathogens, advances at the molecular level have revealed phytoplasmas are a unique, monophyletic clade of mollicutes with minimal, albeit genetically diverse, genomes. Phytoplasma diseases are among the most significant and costly diseases affecting pome and stone fruit trees, forage, vegetable and ornamental crops in temperate regions of the world while diseases of coconut palm, papaya and sugarcane present a constant threat to production these important crops in the tropics. This book is part of the multi-volume Plant Pathogens Series. It provides 19 chapters each containing a wealth on information on symptomatology, economic concern, detection and management of phytoplasmas associated primarily with fruit trees, coconut, sugarcane, forage, shade and ornamental crops.
Table of Contents
Phytoplasma in Fruit Trees, "Ca. Phytoplasma mali" causing Apple Proliferation, Phytoplasmas of Peach and Cherry, European Stone Fruit Yellows, Phytoplasmas in Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees, Phytoplasmas of Apricot and Japanese Plum, Phytoplasmas in Ornamental Plants, Phytoplasma Diseases in Chrysanthemum and Lily, Catharanthus roseus Phytoplasmas, Coconut Lethal Yellowing, Phytoplasmas Affecting Sugarcane and Papaya in Cuba, Phytoplasmas Infecting Sugarcane, White Leaf and Grassy Shoot Diseases of Sugarcane, Australian Lucerne Yellows, Clover Proliferation Phytoplasmas and Their Subgroup members, 'Candidatus Phytoplasma cynodontis': The Causal Agent of Bermuda Grass White Leaf Disease, Stolbur Phytoplasma, Diagnosis of Phytoplasmas Associated with Currants, Phytoplasma in Rhododendron.