Planting of disease-free planting material is of prime importance for the control of WLD. WLD is largely eliminated from diseased material by hot water treatments (50°C for 2-3 hours). As for RSD, there is a low level of ‘escapes’ – stalks where the pathogen is not completely eliminated, so care in the selection of disease-free, or minimally diseased planting material is important for hot water treatment.
Resistance to WLD requires further research. There seems to be a very limited amount of resistance to the other phytoplasma diseases (GSD and GGSD) in commercial varieties in either Thailand or Vietnam. Further work into resistance screening is needed. When a disease epidemic is occurring, the most important management strategies are to eliminate badly diseased crops and to replant with disease-free planting material into fallow ground (no volunteers).
Countries