Increasing incidence of tomato big bud phytoplasma in Ranga Reddy District of Telangana State, India

Tomato is an important vegetable crop and India ranks second in area and production of tomato worldwide. During field surveys in Moinabad and Shamshabad Mandals in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana from 2014–2016, symptoms like big bud and phyllody were observed on tomato. The affected plants did not produce any fruit. The phytoplasma strains were detected and characterized using universal and nested primer pairs of phytoplasma with amplification of 16S rRNA and secA genes. BLAST analysis of 1.25 kb 16S rDNA partial sequences of nested PCR products and 880 bp of secA gene products obtained from symptomatic TBB (tomato big bud) samples revealed 99% sequence identity with strains of ‘Ca. Phytoplasma australasia’ (16Sr II group). Phylogenetic analysis and virtual RFLP analysis of 16SrDNA sequences of tomato big bud phytoplasma (TBBP) strain also suggested the closest relationship with ‘Ca. P. australasia’16Sr II-D subgroup related strain. Present study confirmed association of 16Sr II-D subgroup of phytoplasma associated with tomato big bud disease in Telangana State of India.