Presence of phytoplasma infections in papaya (Carica papaya L.) Plants in Uttar Pradesh, India

During survey of papaya fields in Meerut, severe symptoms of leaf yellowing, intervenial chlorosis, and curl apical necrosis were observed in approximately 25 per cent of plants in each of the papaya fields. DNA extracted from leaf, midrib and bark of symptomatic and healthy plants of papaya were preceded with universal primer pairs. Expected ~1600 bp fragments were amplified with primer pair P1/Tint in diseased plants. Infection of phytoplasma disease in papaya plants was confirmed by the PCR.