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Pepper yellow crinkle disease was first reported in China. PCR amplification using primer pairs specific for 16S rRNA, groEL, tuf or secA gene of phytoplasma yielded a fragment of 1331 bp for 16S rRNA, 1296 bp for groEL, 935 bp for tuf and 705 bp for secA. The phytoplasma was named pepper yellow crinkle (PYC) phytoplasma, strain PYC-hnhk, and is related to ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’. Genetic analysis indicated that PYC-hnhk was closely related to phytoplasma strains that infect periwinkle, chinaberry, and areca palm, all from Hainan Island of China.

Phytophthora diseases are serious and often fatal in arecanut causing huge losses to farmers (50–100%) if timely and proper management measures aren’t adopted. Among Phytophthora diseases, fruit rot disease predominantly exists in all the arecanut growing regions receiving heavy rainfall during the south-west monsoon season. The extended manifestation of pathogen causes crown and bud rot disease which prevails till November–December due to prolonged rains and congenial weather factors. The role of Phytophthora in causing these diseases of arecanut was established in the early 1900’s and later the Phytophthora meadii was identified as a causal agent. Though the diseases are sporadic, their management in the field situation is a challenging task due to intense rainfall and the variability in the pathogen. The continuous heavy rainfall during the tender arecanut developmental stage, non-availability of professional climbers coupled with the absence of machinery for powerful spraying, occurrence of aggressive pathotypes and lack of Phytophthora resistant/tolerant arecanut varieties are the major hindrance for taking up effective disease management measures. The present review has attempted to compile the earlier findings, present status of this century-old disease, and discusses future strategies for the development of effective remedies for this serious malady of the areca palm.

Deterioration of indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a serious concern as people spend lots of time indoors and prolonged pollution exposure can result in adverse health outcomes. Indoor plants can phytoremediate a wide variety of indoor contaminants. Nonetheless, few experiments have demonstrated their efficacy in real-time environments. Therefore, the present study aims to experimentally assess the efficiency of Areca palm potted plants in phytoremediation of primary indoor air pollutant viz. total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) levels from real-world indoor spaces, for the first time. Four discrete naturally ventilated experimental sites (I-IV) situated at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research- Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT) were used. For over a period of 4 months, the sites were monitored using zero plants as a control (1–4 week), three plants (5–8 week), six plants (9–12 week), and nine plants (13–16 week), respectively. Present results indicate that Areca palm potted plants can effectively reduce the TVOCs, CO2, and CO levels by 88.16% in site IV, 52.33% and 95.70% in site III, respectively. The current study concluded that Areca palm potted plants offer an efficient, cost-effective, self-regulating, sustainable solution for improving indoor air quality and thereby human well-being and productivity in closed and confined spaces.

Nowadays, current inventions are concentrated on the use of natural fibers which are biodegradable, eco-friendly, and easily available constituents such as fibers of hemp, sisal, coconut viz. viz. along with polymers to achieve greater strength with reduced weight of composites. Green composite materials are becoming interested in their applications in the fields of manufacturing, aerospace, sport, households, and so on. In the present work, the processing of areca leaf sheath (ALS) with epoxy resin as a novel matrix for enhanced green polymer composites has been reported. The effect of areca palm age, surface modification, and the number of layers on mechanical properties like tensile strength and flexural strengths has been determined. Present work reveals that mechanical properties of multiple layered ALS composites had exhibited higher tensile strength (20.51 MPa for 10% NaOH treated, 5 layered, and 6-year aged ALS composites) and flexural strength (115.27 MPa for 10% NaOH treated, 4 layered, and 6-year aged ALS composite) as compared to all other categories. From XRD, FTIR, and SEM analysis, it is evident that surface modification will enhance the micro-fibrillation of the natural fibers and this will increase the mechanical properties of the natural fiber reinforced composites. Graphical abstract

Areca palm leaves derived porous carbon material as the electrode for symmetrical solid-state supercapacitors (SSCs). The areca palm leaves biomass was processed using a fast carbonization method followed by in situ chemical activation. The structures and compositions of these biomass-derived carbon materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. One of the biomass-derived porous carbon materials, AR2, was a lightweight carbon material that possessed a large surface area of 876 m2 g–1. Electrochemical studies revealed that AR2 possessed a high specific capacitance of 262 F g–1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s–1. We fabricated symmetrical SSCs featuring these carbon material as major (80 wt%) components of the electrodes and poly(vinyl alcohol)–Li2SO4 as gel polymer electrolyte. The optimal supercapacitor (SAR2) involving AR2 exhibited a specific capacitance of 132 F g–1 at a current density of 0.5 A g–1 and an energy density of 10.3 W h kg–1 at a power density of 375 W kg–1, and durability of retaining 92% of its initial capacitance after 5000 cycles—performance that is the excellent values reported for devices featuring derived from biomass.

The occurrence of Platylecanium nepalense Takagi (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Coccidae) in India is reported. The scale was collected on leaflets of ornamental palms viz., areca palm, Dypsis lutescens (H.Wendl.) Beentje & J. Dransf (Arecaceae) and Indian date palm, Phoenix sylvestris (L.) Roxb. (Arecaceae) growing in front yard of residences in Meghalaya, northeast India. We provide a brief redescription aided with photographs of live and slide mounted specimens along with a key to the species of Platylecanium Cockerell & Robinson.

Infestation of the highly invasive whitefly Aleurotrachelus atratus Hempel (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is reported for the first time from India as well as from the Oriental region. The pest was found colonizing coconut palm, Cocos nucifera (Arecaceae) and ornamental areca palm, Dypsea lutescens (Arecaceae) in Mandya and Mysore districts of Karnataka during February, 2019. Whitefly specimens were collected from infested palm plants and the identity of the species is confirmed by morphological characteristics. No parasitisation was observed but four species of predators viz., Dichochrysa astur (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), Cybochephalus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), Chilocorus nigrita and Jauravia pallidula (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were found feeding on this invasive species. The severity of the infestations and its impact on coconut as well as other crop plants in India is discussed.

This study aims to suggest an improved experimental method to reveal the ability of indoor plants to reduce CO2 concentrations, as well as to display the individual CO2 reduction characteristics of various indoor plants in accordance with this improved method. In previous studies, experiments were conducted under the condition in which the CO2 concentration in the experimental chamber is set only once to a high initial level of 1,000 ppm. However, in real conditions, CO2 concentration gradually increases in a room after the occupants enter. Hence, the existing experimental method can be improved in view of “light saturation and CO2 compensation”. Accordingly, in this study, the CO2 reduction characteristics of indoor plants under 2 conditions used in the existing method of measurement (Case 1) and the condition in the new method, which considers that CO2 concentration gradually increases through the respiration of experimental animals (Case 2)-were measured and compared against each other. For all plant samples, the level of CO2 reduction was higher in Case 2 than in Case 1, and the rate of CO2 reduction increases with time. The inflection point of CO2 concentration appeared at leaf areas of 9,000 cm2 in peace lily and areca palm, and 6,000 cm2 in weeping fig.

A novel virus, tentatively named "areca palm necrotic spindle-spot virus" (ANSSV), was identified in Areca catechu L. in Hainan, China, and its complete genomic sequence was determined. Its positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome is comprised of 9,437 nucleotides (nt), excluding the poly (A) tail, and contains one large open reading frame encoding a polyprotein of 3,019 amino acids (aa). A Blastp search showed that the polyprotein of ANSSV shared a maximum of 31%-32% aa sequence identity (with 86%-95% coverage) with all seven known macluraviruses. Nucleotide sequence comparison of the ORF of ANSSV to those of macluraviruses revealed identities ranging from 41.0% to 44.6%, which is less than the inter-genus identity values for the family Potyviridae. Phylogenetic analysis based on either the aa or nt sequence of the polyprotein did not cluster ANSSV into any established or unassigned genus of the family Potyviridae. Therefore, we suggest that ANSSV is the first member of a previously unrecognized genus of the family Potyviridae.

Information on fungi associated with necrotic leaflets of exotic palms in Thailand is scanty, as previous studies were mainly focused on decaying fronds. This study provides some information regarding fungi associated with necrotic leaflets of exotic palms in Thailand. Specimens in this work were collected from several locations in Chiang Mai province, including natural and planted areas. One new species, Cercospora arecacearum on areca palm (Areca catechu), is described and illustrated. An ITS sequence data analysis confirms the separation of the new Cercospora species from related taxa. Another species, Neorehmia arecae, hitherto only known from areca palm, is newly recorded for Thailand. Furthermore, Wallichia siamensis is a new host for this species.