Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Sandalwood spike disease (SSD) is a highly destructive disease affecting Indian sandalwood (Santalum album), causing severe yield losses and tree mortality.
Understanding the causative pathogen is essential for developing effective quarantine and magement protocols.
Step 2: Detailed Explation:
Sandalwood spike disease is caused by Phytoplasma (formerly referred to as mycoplasma-like organisms or MLOs).
Phytoplasmas are specialized, cell-wall-less, plant-pathogenic bacteria that inhabit the phloem tissues of host plants.
The disease is transmitted between trees by insect vectors, primarily leafhoppers (such as Coelidia indica and Nephotettix virescens), or through root grafts with parasitic host plants.
The classic symptoms of SSD include extreme reduction in leaf size, shortening of internodes, and a crowded, bushy appearance of branches resembling a "spike," which ultimately leads to the death of the tree.
The other options (insects, fungi like Rhizoctonia or Marssoni) are not the causative agents of this specific spike disease.
Step 3: Fil Answer:
The correct option is (A).