This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations.(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lethal yellowing" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)
Lethal yellowing
Palm tree dying of lethal yellowing
Common names
Coconut lethal yellowing phytoplasma
Causal agents
Phytoplasma sp
Hosts
Arecaceae (palms)
Vectors
planthoppers (Haplaxius crudus)
EPPO Code
PHYP56
Distribution
Florida, parts of the Caribbean, parts of Australia and Central America, East Africa
Lethal yellowing (LY) is a phytoplasma disease that attacks many species of palms, including some commercially important species, such as the coconut and date palm. In the Caribbean, it is spread by the planthopper Haplaxius crudus (former name Myndus crudus) which is native to Florida, parts of the Caribbean, parts of Australia and Central America.[1] The only effective cure is prevention, e.g., planting resistant varieties of coconut palm and preventing a park-like or golf-course-like environment which attracts the planthopper.[citation needed] Some cultivars, such as the Jamaica Tall coconut cultivar, nearly died out because of lethal yellowing. Heavy turf grasses and similar green ground cover attracts the planthopper to lay its eggs there, and the nymphs develop at the roots of these grasses. The planthoppers' eggs and nymphs can pose a great threat to coconut-growing countries' economies, especially ones into which grass seeds for golf courses and lawns are imported from the Americas.
It is not clearly understood how the disease was spread to East Africa, as the planthopper Haplaxius crudus is not native to East Africa.
The most likely explanation is that it was imported with grass seed from Florida that was used to create golf courses and lawns in beach resorts. There is a direct connection between green lawns and the spread of lethal yellowing in Florida. Even so-called 'resistant cultivars' such as the Malayan Dwarf or the Maypan hybrid between that dwarf and the Panama Tall were never claimed to have a 100% immunity.
The nymphs of the planthoppers develop on the roots of grasses, hence areas of grass in the vicinity of palm trees are connected with the spread of this phytoplasma disease. The problem arose as a direct result of using coconut and date palms for ornamental and landscaping purposes in lawns, golf courses and gardens, together with these grasses. When these two important food palms were grown in traditional ways (without grasses) in plantations and along the shores, the palm groves were not noticeably affected by lethal yellowing. There is no evidence that disease can be spread when instruments used to cut an infected palm are then used to cut or trim a healthy one.[citation needed] Seed transmission has never been demonstrated, although the phytoplasma can be found in coconut seednuts, but phytosanitary quarantine procedures that prevent movement of coconut seed, seedlings and mature palms out of an LY epidemic area should be applied to grasses and other plants that may be carrying infected vectors.
Beside coconut palm (Cocus nucifera), more than 30 palm species have also been reported as susceptible to lethal phytoplasmas around the globe.[2]
^Brown, S.E., Been, B.O. & McLaughlin, W.A. (2006). Detection and variability of the lethal yellowing group (16Sr IV) phytoplasmas in the Cedusa sp. (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Derbidae) in Jamaica. Annals of Applied Biology, 149(1), pp. 53–62
^Howard, F. (1992). Lethal yellowing susceptibility of date palms in Florida. Principes, 36(4), pp. 217–222
Lethalyellowing (LY) is a phytoplasma disease that attacks many species of palms, including some commercially important species, such as the coconut and...
Papaya LethalYellowing Virus (PLYV) is an isometric viral plant pathogen, tentatively assigned to the genus Sobemovirus, that causes lethalyellowing disease...
reclinata, Sabal palmetto, and Syagrus romanzoffiana. Prior to 2006, lethalyellowing was the only other strain of phytoplasma known to attack palm trees...
Pilotti, Carmel; Dewhurst, Charles; You, Minsheng (2016). "Coconut LethalYellowing Diseases: A Phytoplasma Threat to Palms of Global Economic and Social...
based on the nut color: ivory yellow nuts, apricot red nuts, and green nuts. The palm's resistance to the LethalYellowing disease is the characteristic...
phytoplasma disease, lethalyellowing. One recently selected cultivar, the 'Maypan', has been bred for resistance to this disease. Yellowing diseases affect...
species in the genus Haplaxius. H. crudus is the vector of the coconut lethalyellowing/16SrIV-A. Throughout the Caribbean and in Florida. The nymphs are found...
considered to be a pest is Haplaxius crudus, which is a vector for lethalyellowing, a palm disease that nearly killed off the Jamaican Tall coconut variety...
Pritchardia pacifica is considered a host for a plant disease called LethalYellowing that is found in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Guam. In Fiji the leaves...
Department of the Coconut Industry Board of Jamaica to be resistant to LethalYellowing disease. It was created experimentally in 1962 by cross pollinating...
Lethal alleles (also referred to as lethal or lethals) are alleles that cause the death of the organism that carries them. They are usually a result of...
the most common sap-sucking insects on coconut palms affected by the lethalyellowing disease and the causal phytoplasma agent was present in this derbid...
detected in Mozambique in 2007. A symptomology similar to coconut lethalyellowing disease (LYD) was found. This same disease was then found in Côte d’Ivoire...
which are dying off because of lethalyellowing disease brought in with introduced palms. As of 2017, lethalyellowing disease has not spread to Mangrove...
tissue culture". In C., Oropeza; F.W., Howard; G.R., Ashburner (eds.). LethalYellowing: Research and Practical Aspects. Developments in Plant Pathology. Vol...
species in Haplaxius. Haplaxius crudus is the vector of the coconut lethalyellowing plant disease. These 62 species belong to the genus Haplaxius: Haplaxius...
homozygous, it is lethal early in development. Viable yellow Avy looks similar to lethalyellow and also causes obesity, but is not lethal when homozygous...
plantation was based in Phedra, however the Surinamese Interior War and lethalyellowing resulted in the closure of the factory in Victoria, Klaaskreek in 1996...
though they have become increasingly rare and expensive. A plague of "lethalyellowing" killed most of the coconut trees in the 1990s. In Belize, cassava...
there. Worth Avenue was lined with coconut palms that succumbed to lethalyellowing blight in the 1970s. Adonidia or "Christmas palms" replaced them, but...
former plantation of Victoria. however the Surinamese Interior War and lethalyellowing resulted in the closure of the factory in 1996. "Resorts in Suriname...
plantation was based in Phedra, however the Surinamese Interior War and lethalyellowing resulted in the closure of the factory in Victoria, Klaaskreek in 1996...
is now the most common variety of coconut found in Florida, after lethalyellowing killed off most of the Jamaican Tall coconut trees and many other varieties...
government of the United States for executions of convicted criminals by lethal injection. In some countries and states, it is also used for physician-assisted...
main vectors of dengue fever, Zika virus, west Nile virus, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Lethal ovitraps can either contain substances that kills larvae...