PHYTOPHTHORA FABERI MAUBL.: THE CAUSE OF 
COCONUT BUD ROT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
By Otto A. REINKING 
(From the Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, 
Los Baiios) ; 
THREE PLATES 
The cause, and the method of spread, of coconut bud rot, 
which produces severe losses in all parts of the tropics where 
coconuts are cultivated have been subjects of investigation. Va- 
rious organisms have been considered responsible for the disease. 
Because of this diversity of opinion, extensive work has been 
done by the writer to determine, if possible, the organism re- 
sponsible for the disease in the Philippine Islands. Although 
these studies are still in progress, sufficient evidence has been 
obtained to make it seem advisable to present in a preliminary 
paper the most important conclusions that have been reached. 
Before adequate control measures can be devised to reduce the 
damage done by this disease, it is of the utmost importance 
that the causal organism and its methods of dissemination be 
definitely known. The work already done has been sufficient 
to establish the identity of the organism responsible for the 
disease in the Philippine Islands. 
HISTORY OF THE DISEASE IN THE PHILIPPINES 
_In March, 1908, the first authentic and reliable investigations 
into the bud-rot situation in the Philippines were conducted by 
Copeland.(5) The disease was reported as prevalent in the 
coconut sections of Laguna and Tayabas Provinces, being es- 
pecially severe in the regions surrounding Lilio and Nagcarlan; 
and some cases were observed on the mountain slopes near the 
town of Tayabas. In the vicinity of Nagearlan, it had been 
reported as being serious for a period of ten years preceding 
these studies. Due to these investigations ordinances were 
enacted in Laguna Province whereby all the infected trees were 
to be cut down and burned, in order to check the advance. In 
the latter part of the same year Byars,(3) of the Philippine 
Bureau of Agriculture, visited the affected regions for “the in- 
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