1Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat-785013, Assam, India
2AAU-Sugarcane, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Station, Buralikson, Golaghat-785618, Assam, India
3Central University of South Bihar, NH-120, Gaya Panchanpur Road, Fatehpur, Gaya-824236, Bihar, India
*Corresponding author e-mail: Manoj Kumar Kalita (manojpathoaau@gmail.com)
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), one of the most important vegetables consumed globally is also a major crop grown in the state of Assam, India. It is reported to be infected by phytoplasmas from various other states of India. Field surveys were conducted during 2025-2026 across the major tomato growing regions of Assam and different phytoplasma associated symptoms like, little leaf, witches’ broom, malformed flower and leaf, curling and crinkling and chlorosis were observed. Symptomatic tomato plants were tested for presence of phytoplasmas using PCR with P1/P6 primers that produced an about 1.5 kb DNA band and nested PCR with R16F2n/R16R2 primers that gave an about 1.25 kb band in agarose gel. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of these bands showed the higher sequence similarities with strain of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii’. Furthermore, virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses showed the closer relatedness of this phytoplasma strain from Assam with strains in ribosomal subgroup 16SrVI-D
Phytoplasma, 16SrVI, PCR, Detection, Disease
