Occurrence and Epidemiological Aspects of Phytoplasmas in Cereals

The symptoms of the main cereal diseases associated with phytoplasma presence such as barley deformation, maize bushy stunt, maize redness, green ear, oat proliferation, oat stunt, oat yellows, rice orange leaf, rice yellow dwarf, triticosecale stunt, wheat blue dwarf and wheat streak, yellowing, and stunting are described. Moreover the phytoplasmas associated with each disease are described together with their geographical distribution. In some cases, factors that affect the occurrence, development, and severity of these diseases are discussed. The insect vectors involved in transmission of some of these diseases are presented, along with the main morphological characteristics adopted for their identification.