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Abstract:
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Spike disease in sandal is generally diagnosed by the manifestation of
external symptoms. Attempts have been made to detect the diseased plants
by determining the length/breadth ratio of leaves (lyengar, 1961) and
histochemical tests using Mann's stain (Parthasarathi et al., 1966), Dienes'
stain (Ananthapadmanabha et a/., 1973) aniline blue and Hoechst 33258
(Ghosh et a/., 1985, Rangaswamy, 1995). But most of these techniques are
insensitive, indirect detection methods leading to misinterpretation of results.
Moreover, to identify disease resistant sandal trees, highly sensitive
techniques are needed to detect the presence of the pathogen. In sandal
forests, several host plants of sandal like Zizyphus oenop/ea (Fig. 1.3) also
exhibit the yellows type disease symptoms. Immunological and molecular
assays have to be developed to confirm the presence of sandal spike
phytoplasma in such hosts. The major objectives of the present work
includes:In situ detection of sandal spike phytoplasma by epifluorescence
microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.,Purification of sandal spike phytoplasma and production of polyclonal antibodies.,Amino acid and total protein estimation of sandal spike phytoplasma.,Immunological detection of sandal spike phytoplasma.,
Molecular detection of sandal spike phytoplasma.,Screening for phytoplasma in host plants of spike disease affected sandal using immunological and molecular techniques. |