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Environmental Impact of Lethal Yellowing Disease of Coconut Palms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Jack B. Fisher
Jack B. Fisher
Affiliation:
Plant Morphologist, Fairchild Tropical Garden, 11935 Old Cutler Road, Miami, Florida 33156, U.S.A.; Convener of the first International Lethal Yellowing Research Symposium.
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Extract

Lethal Yellowing disease has been devastating Coconut, and presumably 14 other species of palms (including Palmyra and Date Palms), in mainland Florida since 1971. The urban environment has changed rapidly with the death of palm trees along streets, parks, and beaches. The disease is now present around the Caribbean Sea and presumably in West Africa.

Widespread injections of oxytetracycline into both diseased and healthy palms are now being carried out in Florida in an effort to control the disease temporarily. The vector has not yet been identified. ‘Malayan Dwarf’ variety and the newly developed ‘Maypan’ hybrid are resistant to the disease and are being used to replace more susceptible varieties.

The potential for environmental and economic disaster from the introduction of the disease to unaffected tropical countries, and the need for controlling its spread, are emphasized.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , Winter 1975 , pp. 299 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1975

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References

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