1Integrated Farming System Research Station, Kerala Agricultural University, Trivandrum, 695002, Kerala, India
2Division of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110012, India
3Department of Plant Pathology, Agricultural College, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Mahanandi-518502, Andhra Pradesh, India
*Corresponding author e-mail: Abdulmajeed Sajeena (sajeenamanjima@gmail.com)
Online published on 12 February, 2025.
Witches’ broom, shoot proliferation on nodes and little leaf were observed in bamboo, Dendrocalamus strictus at Integrated Farming System Research Station, Karamana, Trivandrum district, Kerala, India. The symptomatic bamboo samples were tested for phytoplasma presence using universal phytoplasma specific 16S rRNA gene primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2. Sequence comparison and virtual RFLP analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequence of bamboo phytoplasma strains in the study confirmed the presence of a ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma cynodontis’ strain (16SrXIV-A). This is the first report of phytoplasmas in a bamboo species in Kerala.
Bamboo species, Disease, 16SrXIV-A subgroup, Natural reservoirs
