Abstract:

Yellow leaf disease (YLD) of the areca nut palm is a severe disease that occurs mainly in Southeast Asia. Although YLD has similar symptoms in different regions, it has been shown to be induced by different pathogens. In this work, 28 samples of diseased palms were collected from three different counties of Hainan Province, China. Their 16S rDNA was studied by the nested PCR to detect the phytoplasma associated with YLD. The results showed that amplification was observed only in leaf samples, but not in stem or root samples, and phytoplasmas were detected only in 9 samples collected from 2 counties of Hainan pronvices.