CILY in cassava: not so fast

So it turns out the article the previous post on the possibility of Côte d’Ivoire lethal yellowing phytoplasma (CILY) attacking cassava in that country may have been a bit premature. Dr Lava Kumar, virologist and Head of Germplasm Health Unit at IITA, left the following comment on my Facebook page:

Misleading! The symptoms on these leaves are typical cassava mosaic. Authors of this study happened to detect CILY in CMD infected plants and left it loose for interpretation. Reports of this kind can create needless phytosanitary bottlenecks. Wish NDR editorial review was better.

Time to wheel on Koch’s Postulates?

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