It has become one of the most widely distributed threatening problems in mango growing orchards in India as well as in many other mango growing countries of the world.
Abnormal, compact development of shoots and flowers are common signs of mango malformation disease. There are two categories of symptoms. vegetative and floral malformation.
Vegetative malformation is most serious on seedlings and young trees in nurseries, especially where seedlings are grown beneath the canopies of affected trees, but it also occurs on mature trees.
Both normal growth and mango malformation disease–affected growth may be present on a plant at the same time. This includes shorter internodes, dwarfed malformed leaves and an overall tightly bunched appearance of the shoot, while inflorescence malformation includes short, thick and branched axes of the inflorescence.
The symptoms of floral malformation are characterized by deformation of panicles. suppression of apical dominance, shortening of primary and secondary axis. giving the panicle a characteristic clustered appearance, thickened rachis of panicles, and greatly enlarged flowers with large disc and the preponderance of staminate flowers bearing scantly pollen grains.
Floral malformation is most important economically since affected inflorescences usually do not set fruit.
What are the symptoms of mango malformation disease?
