Root wilt disease in coconut trees is fast spreading at Marayur, with many farms in the Pulikaravayal area already under severe threat of the disease.
The symptom of the disease is yellowing of the outer leaves, later resulting in decay of the tender leaves and complete drying up of the trunk. Once the disease is noticed in a few coconut trees, it soon spreads to nearby farms and an area will be affected with the disease.
Control of the disease is ineffective once it starts spreading to nearby farms. According to farmers at Pulikaravayal, they had tried all remedial measures suggested by the Agriculture Department but to no avail. According to Parayil Antony, a farmer, all the trees were affected with the yellowing of leaves. Once it was affected, within two months the top of the tree would start decaying, he said. The nearby farms were also affected with the disease.
The disease poses a major threat to coconut cultivation, a major crop at Marayur.
According to an official of the Agriculture Department, farmers are given training in taking precautionary measures against the disease. He said the disease was caused by a micro plasm-like virus. Insects would spread from one tree to the other and it was difficult to control once it reached a stage of fast spreading, he said.
According to the farmers, though an entire area was affected with the disease, no government agency had so far come forward with any help. The remedial measures suggested by the officials were ineffective in controlling the disease. They said that yellowing of the leaves was already recorded in isolated farms in other areas posing a bigger threat to the entire coconut cultivation at Marayur.
The disease could be due to the deficiency of micro nutrients, mainly magnesium, boron, and calcium. Once affected with the yellowing of the outer leaves, it suddenly spreads to the inner leaves and tender coconuts start falling which then leads to the final decay of the palm.
This disease had been identified as a major threat to coconut production and its detection in the Marayur area was a cause for concern, said the official.
