Dieback Disease

Dieback Disease Latest News

The withering of thousands of neem trees over some years had prompted the Mulugu-based Forest College & Research Institute (FCRI), to launch a comprehensive scientific probe into the devastating “dieback disease.”

About Dieback Disease

• It is a fungal disease which kills a wide variety of plants.
• It is responsible for causing wilting and browning of leaves from the tip of the branch, stem canker, and fruit rot.
• It was first reported in the country during the 1990s near Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
• The dieback fungus belongs to the genus Phytophthora
• Mode of spread: 
  • The fungus is spread through the movement of soil and mud, especially by vehicles and footwear. 
  • It also moves in free water and via root-to root contact between plants.
• The fungus lives in susceptible plant tissue and soil, and migrates and reproduces in warm, moist conditions. 
• Infected roots cannot provide the water and nutrients needed to maintain life, and the plants die from dehydration.
• It causes almost 100% loss of fruit production in severely infected trees.
• Where the disease occurs, the native vegetation can become devastated, and the delicate fabric of ecosystems seriously impaired; certain species can disappear from the area.
• The appearance of symptoms starts with the onset of the rainy season and becomes progressively severe in the later part of the rainy season and early winter.
• Dieback is not easy to detect, as infected plants often appear to be dying from drought.
• There is no known cure for the disease.

Source: DC

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