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Causal Agent:
Little leaf phytoplasma
Vector:
The cotton leafhopper or jassid (Hishimonus phycitis)
Distribution:
India, Bangladesh
Symptoms:
Infected plants produce tiny, pale-green leaves on very short petioles. Stem internodes are short and plants are stunted and bushy due to stimulation of axillary buds. Excessive root branching is common. Flowers formed after infection are leaf-like and sterile. Yield losses can approach 100 percent.
Conditions for Disease Development:
Little leaf disease is widespread in India where overlapping crop cycles and weeds ensure high populations of leafhoppers and provide reservoirs for the phytoplasma. Eggplants can be infected at any stage of growth when phytoplasma-carrying leafhoppers are present. Grafting also can spread the disease.
Control:
Eradicate solanaceous weeds that harbor the vector and spray insecticides to reduce leafhopper populations to control the spread of this disease. Rogue symptomatic plants as soon as they are detected to reduce secondary spread of this disease.
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