Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2009
Studies on the symptomatology of red-ring disease were carried out by the author (Goberdhan; 1961) on thirty-two trees at La Forest Estate. It was hoped that from this study, methods for detecting the disease at an early stage would have been developed. If this were possible, then therapeutic treatment might be administered to combat the disease and so save a tree from destruction. From these field observations, it appeared unlikely that very early infection could be detected visually, since infection in the stem was found to be well advanced even when only one or more leaves showed signs of rich, gold, yellowing, typical of the disease. The initial time of infection could not be determined nor could the length of time elapsing between infection and the onset of symptons. It was therefore decided to artificially infect young, and apparently healthy palms, to estimate rate of spread of infection, the length of time from infection to appearance of symptoms, and the possible detection of very early infection.