It is an age old disease, is one of the most threatening disease of recent times primarily because of its destructive and widespread nature. The disease spreads on a tree very slowly, but if left unchecked, can severely reduce yields. The main method of spreading MMD to new areas is through infected vegetative planting material.
There is no evidence that the disease can spread on fruit or the seeds, or that it affects human health. It usually associated with the bud mite, Aceria mangiferae but the mites have been shown to spread the disease within a tree and not between trees.
Although the disease was recognized as early as 1891 by Maries in India, some attention was devoted to its only in mid 1950s when it started assuming serious proportions in other parts of the country. Australia was thought to be free of the disease but in November 2007, symptoms of MMD were detected on treed in a finalized research trial containing about 2,000 trees at Coastal Plains Research Farm at Middle Point.
Among the symptoms of mango malfunctions disease including: stunting of shoots and panicles, loss of apical dominance, prolonged longevity of malformed panicles, shifting of flowering buds towards vegetative growth, more staminate flowers, pollen sterility, increase cell size, low transpiration vis-à-vis higher moisture content and disease resistance.
Mango Malformation Disease
