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Crops > Fruits & nuts > Papaya > Erwinia papayae, Malaysia

Crops Fruits & nuts Papaya Erwinia papayae, Malaysia

Erwinia papayae

July 2008. PestNet posted the description of an outbreak of Erwinia papayae in Malaysia taken from the International Society of Infectious Diseases. In response, Guam reported that In 1982, Ed Trujillo and Milton Schroth published a paper In Plant Disease (66:116-120) on two different species of Erwinia on papaya occurring in the Mariana islands. One of them is the one referred to below.

Resistance to the disease has been known since Trujillo’s paper. For those interested, papaya varieties from Guam and Saipan are resistant to this devastating bacterial disease. However, they are susceptible to PRV.

This is part of the ISID report:

ERWINIA PAPAYAE, PAPAYA – MALAYSIA: FIRST REPORT
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A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

Date: July 2008
Source: British Society for Plant Pathology, New Disease Reports
(NDR) vol. 17 (February-July 2008) [edited] <http://www.bspp.org.uk/ndr/july2008/2008-09.asp>

[Ref: NH Maktar et al: _Erwinia papayae_ causing papaya dieback in Malaysia. BSPP New Disease Reports, vol. 17]
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A papaya dieback disease was first reported in Malaysia by the Johor State Department of Agriculture in 2003. By the end of 2006 it had spread to 5 other states on the west coast of the Malaysian peninsula, affecting about 800 ha (1980 acres) and resulting in the destruction of around one million trees. Total yield losses were estimated at 200 000 metric tonnes, equivalent to USD 58 million.Early symptoms included yellowing and necrosis along leaf edges followed by water-soaked areas on the bases of leaf stalks, crowns (Fig. 1) and along leaf mid- ribs. Fruit symptoms included dark
spots on the skin and water-soaked flesh (Fig. 2). Later, necrotic and water-soaked areas developed on stems and spread to the internal tissues, followed by secondary fungal infections. In advanced stages bending of water-soaked leaf stalks occurs, leading to dieback, anddeath of trees (Fig. 3).