Identification Symptoms

  • The first visible symptom appears on the youngest leaf of the affected tiller as spindle shaped slender chlorotic flecks measuring 2-5 mm in length.
  • Later these flecks develop into pale green discontinuous stripes. The stripes run parallel to the vein from the midrib to leaf margin.
  • All the subsequently emerging new leaves show characteristic mosaic symptoms with chlorotic and green stripes. As the leaf matures, the mosaic symptoms are more or less masked.
  • Disease is systemic in nature and it gradually spreads to all the tillers in a clump.
  • Younger plants express symptoms earlier than grown up clumps. Infected clumps are stunted and smaller in size with a few slender tillers and shorter panicles.
  • Katte infected plants continue to survive for many years and serve as sources of inoculum.
  • If the plants are infected in the seedling stage or the same year of planting the loss will be total. In bearing clumps, the loss will be upto 68% in three years after infection (the loss will be even more at later stages).