Varietal susceptibility and effect of antibiotics on little leaf Phytoplasma of brinjal (Solanummelongena L)

Among the vegetable crops grown in India, brinjal or egg plant (Solanummelongena L is quite popular.
The crop is highly susceptible to several viruses and phytoplasma (The Wealth of India 1972) . Out of
various pathogens and diseases, the little leaf disease cause by phytoplasma is the most serious disease in
India ( Anjaneyulu et. al. 1968, Verma et.al. 1969, Srinivasan and Chelliah 1978). To study the varietal
susceptibility and effect of antibiotics the experiments have been done on eleven varieties of brinjalie.
Barahmasia, Black beauty, H-5, H-6, Long White Egg, PusaKranti, Pusa Purple Cluster, Pusa Purple
Long, Pusa Purple Round, Supriya, Surbha etc. For control measures different antibiotics used were
Biophenicol, Chlorophenicol, Enteromycelin, Lycercelin, Paraxin, Roscillin, Camphicillin,
Oxytetracycine, Chlorotetracycline, Rose oil, Clove oil, Eucalyptus oil etc. The disease spread slowly and
less effectively in Surbha and Pusa Purple Cluster suggesting that these varieties has some resistance to
little leaf phytoplasma. No flowers and fruits were observed in any of the plant suggesting that spraying of
these chemicals did not showed any effect in controlling the disease.