Study of erythromycin and copper sulfate effects in controlling witches' broom disease of lime (WBDL)

Mexican lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) is one of the most important fruit trees in south of Iran. In the recent years, many Mexican lime orchards in Iran have been infected by witches' broom disease of lime (WBDL), which is caused by Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia. This plant pathogen is prokaryote (pseudo-bacterial), and affects on the chlorophyll synthesis and results in narrowing leaves, shorter internodes and eventually leaves and branches turn yellow. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of erythromycin and copper sulfate in controlling WBDL. A factorial experiment was carried out based on randomized complete block design (RCBD). Morphological traits of leaves including leaf size and internode length, chlorophyll content, total carotenoids and total phenolic compounds were measured before and after treatments in phytoplasma-infected leaves.