Latest Technical Methods Tutorial for the Prevention and Control of Sugarcane White Leaf Disease

In sugarcane plants affected by white leaf disease, the leaves bear single or several white, milky yellow or light green stripes of varying width. Sometimes the entire leaf turns white and the leaf texture becomes soft. The side shoots or tillers growing from diseased sugarcane plants are entirely white, and in severe cases the leaf sheaths also turn white. Sometimes green small patches appear on the white leaves, mottled and of unequal size. Let us take a look together at the prevention and control techniques for sugarcane white leaf disease!

Damage Symptoms of Sugarcane White Leaf Disease

The damage symptoms of sugarcane white leaf disease are mainly manifested on the sugarcane leaves. The leaves bear single or several white, milky yellow or light green stripes of varying width. Sometimes the entire leaf turns white and the leaf texture becomes soft. The side shoots or tillers growing from diseased sugarcane plants are entirely white, and in severe cases the leaf sheaths also turn white. Sometimes green small patches appear on the white leaves, mottled and of unequal size. The diseased plants are stunted, with thin stems and shortened internodes, and the top leaves cluster together.

Conditions for the Onset of Sugarcane White Leaf Disease

The pathogen of sugarcane white leaf disease exists in the phloem sieve tubes of infected sugarcane plants. In addition to transmission through diseased seedlings, it can also be transmitted in the field by the Taiwan striped leafhopper and leafhoppers, which is the main route of secondary infection. When diseased sugarcane is retained for seed, especially when the basal several nodes are retained for seed, the seedlings that grow out are almost all diseased seedlings and die about one month after germination. When leafhoppers occur in large numbers, the disease is severe. There are differences in disease resistance among varieties.

Prevention and Control Techniques for Sugarcane White Leaf Disease

1. Carry out quarantine, strictly prohibit the introduction of diseased sugarcane seedlings from diseased areas, conduct regular inspections, and immediately pull out and remove diseased plants when found.

2. Sugarcane fields with a diseased plant rate of 10% or more are not suitable for ratoon cropping. Seedlings must not be collected from severely diseased sugarcane fields, and sugarcane seedlings from diseased areas must not be moved to disease-free areas outside the region.