Symptoms and Signs
This disease causes cilantro leaves to develop bright yellow, irregularly shaped, blotchy lesions with diffuse margins and yellowed veins. Slight leaf deformations as well as stunted plants might be present and the quality of the crop can be reduced. The pathogen causing this problem has not yet been characterized but is tentatively named Cilantro yellow blotch virus.
Comments on the Disease
Because additional research on this disease is needed, details on disease cycle (role of any insect vector, seed-borne nature, alternate host crops and weeds) are lacking. Occurrence of cilantro plants with cilantro yellow blotch symptoms tends to appear random in production fields, and usually less than 5% of the crop is affected.
Management
Cultural Control
- Affected plants can be avoided during manual harvest; however, mechanical cutting will not differentiate symptomatic from healthy plants.
- Among common cilantro cultivars tested in trials, the cultivar Long Standing had greater cilantro yellow blotch incidence compared to the cultivars Leisure, Santo, or Jaguar.