Topic summary
Cassava root
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Cassava.
Fungi and oomycetes
Several fungi and oomycetes bring about significant crop losses, one of the most serious being cassava root rot; the pathogens involved are species of Phytophthora, the genus which causes potato blight. Cassava root rot can result in losses of as much as 80 percent of the crop. A major pest is a rust caused by Uromyces manihotis. Superelongation disease, caused by Elsinoë brasiliensis, can cause losses of over 80 percent of young cassava in Latin America and the Caribbean when temperature and rainfall are high.