Cassava mosaic diseases

Professor J. Michael Thresh, of the UK Natural Resources Institute, has responded to an article published in Spore entitled Malawi farmers unaware of effects of EACMD. Professor Thresh writes 'A recent feature in Spore 70 (p. 8) summarises an article in Roots (3 (2) pp.4-7; 1996) concerned with what is referred to as East African cassava mosaic disease (EACMD). This implies the occurrence of a new, hitherto unreported virus disease of cassava in Africa that differs from the one previously referred to as cassava mosaic virus or African cassava mosaic disease. Readers of Spore should be aware that there is no evidence for such a conclusion and that it is more appropriate to refer to the mosaic diseases of cassava in their different parts of Africa and India as cassava mosaic disease. Recent research at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee has shown that several different whitefly-borne geminiviruses are involved but they are distinguished biochemically and not so far on biological grounds.'Professor J. Michael Thresh, of the UK Natural Resources Institute, has responded to an article published in Spore entitled Malawi farmers unaware of effects of EACMD. Professor Thresh writes 'A recent feature in Spore 70 (p. 8) summarises an..