First report and preliminary evaluations of cassava brown streak-like root necrosis in Congo Republic
International Journal of Development Research
First report and preliminary evaluations of cassava brown streak-like root necrosis in Congo Republic
Received 26th May, 2018; Received in revised form 09th June, 2018; Accepted 17th July, 2018; Published online 31st August, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Bakelana Zeyimo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In the last 10 years, the Cassava Brown Streak Disease has spread across Africa from the east coast of Africa to central Africa. Similar root necrosis to cassava brown streak disease have also been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the first symptoms were identified in 2002 in Kinshasa and Central Kongo province. In 2012, the presence of cassava brown streak disease was confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. All attempts since 2002 in western Democratic Republic of Congo to identify the cause of these root necrosis failed. In 2017, a team of scientists surveying the Luozi Territory in the Kongo central province, identified the same root necrosis similar to cassava brown streak in several localities bordering the Republic of Congo. These unexpected results will foreshadow the presence of cassava root necrosis in Congo Republic. This preliminary investigation in Congo Republic was conducted specifically in Mfouati District, a District bordering Democratic Republic of Congo in order to verify, whether or not, these root necrosis are present in Congo Republic. Results obtained from this exploratory survey confirmed the presence of root necrosis similar to cassava brown streak disease in Congo Republic, in several fields of Mfouati District.
