Pest of the month: Bacterial wilt
Month: June 2017
Pest of the month: Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum)
Category name: Bacteria
Importance: Emergency disease: No, however not found in Western Australia.
Symptoms: The bacterium that causes bacterial wilt is a xylem vessel coloniser which produces cell wall degrading enzymes. The pathogen multiplies rapidly in the vascular tissue and fills xylem with bacterial cells and slime, thus preventing water uptake. More