{"id":82939,"date":"2026-01-17T13:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T07:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=82939"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:51:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:21:04","slug":"root-wilt-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/root-wilt-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Root Wilt Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Root Wilt Disease Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, phytoplasma-induced root wilt disease has destroyed large tracts of traditional coconut-growing areas in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala states.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Root Wilt Disease<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>caused by phytoplasma (bacteria)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is one of the most devastating diseases of coconut palms.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Origin:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is classified as a non-fatal disease of coconut palm and was first identified more than a century and a half <\/span><b>ago in Erattupetta in Kerala.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is not lethal; but it debilitates the <\/span><b>production potential of the palms.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Transmission:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The disease spreads <\/span><b>through insect vectors,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aided by the movement of wind and uninterrupted stretches of coconut plantations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The root (wilt) disease occurs in all major soil types but the <\/span><b>spread is faster in sandy, sandy loam and alluvial soil.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Factors accelerating spread: Erratic temperatures,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> especially extremes, and the <\/span><b>rise of new sucking pests,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> particularly whiteflies, have significantly accelerated its spread.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Symptoms of Root Wilt Disease<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tapering of the terminal portion of the trunk of Coconut Tree.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduction of leaf size<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Abnormal bending <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of leaflets termed as flaccidity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Flowering is delayed<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and yield is considerably reduced.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The characteristic symptom is the <\/span><b>flaccidity of leaflets.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Impact:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The <\/span><b>tree quickly becomes unproductive<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, sheds all its nuts, and assumes a distorted appearance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Management: Breeding resistant and tolerant varieties<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> remains one of the most successful tools for managing phytoplasma.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/why-participatory-science-is-crucial-to-tackling-coconut-root-wilt-disease\/article70513728.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Root Wilt Disease is caused by phytoplasma (bacteria) which is one of the most devastating diseases of coconut palms. Read more about Root Wilt Disease, Origin, Transmission, Symptoms, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":82969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,4783,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-82939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-prelims-pointers","9":"tag-root-wilt-disease","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}