Screening for Phytoplasma in Host Plants of Spike Disease affected Sandal

Spike disease caused by sandal spike phytoplasma is the major disease of sandal. Sandal being a root parasite, some of the earlier workers attributed disease transmission by the host plants. This paper reports screening for sandal spike phytoplasma in the host plants of spike disease affected sandal using immunological and molecular techniques. None of these techniques could detect the pathogen in the host plants. The results confirm that sandal spike phytoplasma is confined to sandal.