Identification of phytoplasma disease infection in forest trees in Jammu region, India

Forest trees always have been of great importance to mankind since prehistoric times. They are important, valuable and necessary to the existence of life. Phytoplasmas are important group of plant pathogens which drastically damage growth and commercial value of forest trees. During a survey of different districts of Jammu and Kashmir during 2022–2023, suspected phytoplasma symptoms were observed on Cassia fistula ("amaltas”) and Toona cilia ta ("tooni”) growing in roadsides and forests. The majority of the symptoms recorded were leaf yellowing, witches’ broom, stunting, phyllody and proliferation of shoots. Total DNA was extracted from the symptomatic trees and phytoplasma presence was confirmed by nested PCR assays using universal primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 in both “amaltas” and “tooni” trees. The preliminary analyses indicated the presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ in these two forest trees of Jammu region, India.