New Disease Report in collaboration with Brazil

First report of the identification of a ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pruni’-related strain of phytoplasma in Melothria pendula

In 2017, Sporometrics participated in the Canadian AgriTech Mission to Brazil led by Global Affairs Canada and NRC-IRAP. We are pleased to announce Sporometrics’ first collaborative publication with these partnerships can now be read in the journal Plant Pathology.

Sporometrics’ own plant pathologist expert, Dr. Yaima Arocha-Rosete, along with Dr. Helena Guglielmi Montano of the Entomology and Plant Pathology Department, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), have been working on describing the Guadeloupe cucumber as a new host plant for phytoplasma infection. In Brazil, phytoplasma has already been associated with causing disease in the cassava plant. Identifying new crops as a potential host for phytoplasma infections has been an ongoing concern in the agricultural sector. Across the world, phytoplasma infected crops have left their devastating impact on the agricultural economy. Sporometrics’ continuing efforts in studying infected coconut crops in the Ivory Coast in addition to these new research opportunities in Brazil may lead us in the right direction to combat plant diseases.

You can read the full publication in Plant Pathology Here