Bioassay to Study the Attachment of Xanthomonas albilineans on Sugarcane Leaves

Sugarcane (interspecific hybrids of Saccharum species) is an economically important crop that provides 70% of raw table sugar production worldwide and contributes, in some countries, to bioethanol and electricity production. Leaf scald, caused by the bacterial plant pathogen Xanthomonas albilineans, is one of the major diseases of sugarcane. Dissemination of X. albilineans is mainly ensured by contaminated harvesting tools and infected stalk cuttings. However, some strains of this pathogen are transmitted by aerial means and are able to survive as epiphytes on the sugarcane phyllosphere before entering the leaves and causing disease. Here we present a protocol to estimate the capacity of attachment of X. albilineans to sugarcane leaves. Tissue-cultured sugarcane plantlets were immersed in a bacterial suspension of X. albilineans and leaf attachment of X. albilineans was determined by two methods: leaf imprinting (semi-quantitative method) and leaf washing/homogenization (quantitative method). These methods are important tools for evaluating pathogenicity of strains/mutants of the sugarcane leaf scald pathogen.