1Department of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Hyderabad, India
2Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, Tamil Nadu, India
3Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
4Division of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India
*Corresponding author e-mail: Valarmathi Pandian, valarpath@gmail.com
Online published on 13 January, 2016.
A phytoplasma strain inducing orange leaf disease (ROL) and infecting rice fields with varieties ADT 43, CO 39, White ponni and BPT 5204 at Coimbatore and Erode, Tamil Nadu state, India was identified as belonging to 16SrI-B subgroup by nested PCR assays and in silico restriction enzyme analysis. The zigzag leafhopper (Recilia dorsalis) collected and analyzed from the symptomatic rice fields was also found positive for the presence of 16SrI-B subgroup phytoplasmas. The transmission assays further confirmed R. dorsalis as vector of ROL and suggested that it may act as possible natural source of spread of ROL phytoplasmas.
Rice phytoplasma, ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’, 16SrI-B, leafhopper
