Cocoa diseases: witches' broom

Publication date: 08/08/2018
Extent: 32 pages

Contributions by: Jorge Teodoro De Souza, Federal University of Lavras, Brazil; Fernando Pereira Monteiro, Federal University of Lavras and UNIVAG Centro Universitário, Brazil; Maria Alves Ferreira, Federal University of Lavras, Brazil; and Karina Peres Gramacho and Edna Dora Martins Newman Luz, Comissão Executiva do Plano da Lavoura Cacaueira (CEPLAC), Brazil

Chapter synopsis: Witches' broom, caused by the hemibiotrophic basidiomycete Moniliophthora perniciosa, is one of the most important cocoa diseases. The pathogen co-evolved with cocoa in the Amazon River basin and is currently restricted to South and Central America. Other cocoa-producing regions of the world are at risk because the introduction of the pathogen would greatly impact cocoa production. In the last few years new technologies such as NGS, bioinformatics, transformation, and the establishment of a model host-plant interaction accelerated the gain of information and have enabled significant advances in our knowledge of witches’ broom. In this chapter, we review the information on witches' broom, including the latest information on disease physiology, genomics and transcriptomics, diversity, and management practices.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2017.0021.14