The most probable means of infection in a field setting are
insect transmission through wounds left by abscising male
flowers, via the roots, through infected plant material or from the
use of contaminated tools (Eden-Green, 2004). The method of
artificial inoculation used in this study was similar to the
common infection route through injury by contaminated tools.
Disease development can also be affected by the age of the host
plant (Agrios, 1997). Therefore, the promising resistant lines
identified will be further evaluated for resistance in a confined
field trial. An application to the National Biosafety Committee in
Uganda has been filed for approval for a confined field trial of
these promising transgenic lines.