Phytophthora megakarya
Phytophthora megakarya is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes black pod disease in cocoa trees in west and central Africa. This pathogen can cause detrimental loss of yield in the economically important cocoa industry, worth approximately $70 billion annually. It can damage any part of the tree, causing total yield losses which can easily reach 20-25%. A mixture of chemical and cultural controls, as well as choosing resistant plant varieties, are often necessary to control this pathogen.
From the article Phytophthora megakarya on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
In human culture
Cultural practices not only reduce the incidence of disease but also allow for better use of chemical control. If the disease is not causing much damage, cultural control alone may be sufficient. Removal of infected plant parts reduces sporangial inoculum and is an effective cultural control. Weeding reduces the humidity of the surrounding air which is unfavorable for the production of sporangia. Frequently harvesting the pods reduces the amount of sporangial inoculum. Another form of cultural control is the burning of the pod husk piles to destroy additional sources of chlamydospores and sporangia. These cultural practices can limit disease caused by P. megakarya significantly.
Wikipedia: “Cultural control”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Phytophthora megakarya in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1452519.