Unlocking Natures Secret: Revealing the Culprit Behind Maharashtra Papaya Ringspot Disease

The papaya ringspot disease (PRSD) in Western Maharashtra, India, it is a big threat to cause complete loss in papaya cultivation and the symptomatology of this disease is still insufficient to identify with accuracy to manage the disease. Therefore, the current research was conducted during year 2020-21 with objective to check the occurrence and severity of disease in five major papaya growing districts (Ahmednagar, Pune, Sangli and Satara and Solapur) by using 0-4 disease rating scale. The further studies on Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were employed for identification of virus associated with it. The result of the survey shows that, Ahmednagar having the highest incidence at 87.50%, followed by Solapur (68.75%). In surveyed area Taiwan-786 papaya cultivar found everywhere and revealing an average disease incidence ranging from 10.41 to 87.50%. Common symptoms were found including light leaf discoloration, mosaic patterns, chlorotic patches, leaf curling, stunting, blisters, and fruit deformation. The ringspot virus is characterized by distinctive features such as green ice-land, shoe string formation, pale oily greasy streaks, and ringspots on leaves, fruits, and stems. The TEM studies confirmed the presence of flexible rod-shaped particles of papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) in infected samples.