Phytopathogenic Mollicutes

A survey conducted during three years (2008–2011) in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh, India revealed a gradual increase in the frequency of sugarcane grassy shoot disease incidence in most of the commercial sugarcane varieties throughout the state. The incidence of SCGS varied from 3 to 56% main commercial grown sugarcane varieties at all the surveyed locations. Different yield and quality parameters were compared in the two most important affected varieties of sugarcane, viz. CoS 95255 and CoS 07250. The phytoplasma presence was confirmed by nested PCR assays using universal phytoplasma primers. The infection showed considerable reduction in yield when the crop was 10th months old. Consequently, the cane height and weight of infected were also reduced markedly compared to their respective control with a reduction in cane yield up to 60%. The sugarcane grassy shoot infection showed a marked effect on juice quality, sucrose was reduced from 17.50% (control) to 12.88% (infected). The results of the study indicate the importance and wide spread of this disease in the state and its impact with severe losses on yield and quality parameters of sugarcane.