HEMALATHA TM

@angrau.ac.in

Scientist, Plant Pathology
ACHARYA N.G.RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

HEMALATHA TM


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https://researchid.co/hema.agri
Completed B.Sc in Agriculture, M.Sc (Agiculture) and Ph.D (Plant Pathology) at Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

EDUCATION

Ph.D in Plant Pathology

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Fungal pathology, Biological control, Host Resistance

FUTURE PROJECTS

Host Range studies for sugarcane yellow leaf virus.

Sugarcane yellow leaf disease is an important disease and spreading at alarming level devastating the sugarcane cultivation at nation wide. As a measure of managing the disease, it is very essential to study the alternate hosts that acts as reservoirs for the virus.


Applications Invited
Collaborators
12

Scopus Publications

Scopus Publications

  • Role of Summer Legumes in Sustaining the Rainfed Groundnut Productivity
    T. Prathima, K.V. Nagamadhuri, T.M. Hemalatha, G. Subramanyam, C.V. Madhuri, S. Mobeen
    Legume Research, 2025
    Background: In the face of quickly shifting weather patterns, sustainable agricultural production is essential. The Green Revolution in India led to intensive farming which led to loss of soil biota and degradation of organic matter content resulted in lower soil quality. Methods: A four-year study (2016 to 2019) was taken up at Regional Agricultural Research station, Tirupati andhra Pradesh, India by growing 6 leguminous crops such as Pillipesara, Rice bean, Sunhemp, Green gram, Horse gram and Cowpea during summer under rainfed condition as a preceding crop and incorporated before sowing of Kharif groundnut. FYM was also tested as one of the treatments for comparison. Result: Results revealed that the choice of green manure crop significantly influenced groundnut yields. Growing and incorporating cowpea before Kharif groundnut resulted higher yields (1744 kg/ha) followed by green gram (1699 kg/ha) compared to fallow (1478 kg/ha). Microbial analysis at the end of the experiment revealed that highest fungal population (28.3 x 104 cfu/g) and actinomycet population (24 x 104 cfu/g) was observed in sunhemp followed by cowpea (27 x 104 cfu/g of soil) and (19.7 x 104 cfu/g) compared to fallow (7 x104 cfu/g) and (4.7 x 104 cfu/g). The highest bacterial population (33.3 x 106 cfu/g) was observed with green gram followed by horse gram (26.7 x 106 cfu/g) and cowpea (26.3 x 106 cfu/g). The highest organic carbon content (0.5 per cent) was observed with sunhemp followed by horse gram and cowpea (0.49 per cent) compared to fallow (0.45 per cent). Leguminous crops act as cover crops during summer in maintaining the soil temperature and protecting the soil biota and as green manure crops in enriching the soil during kharif.
  • Severe recurrence of tomato big bud disease associated with 16SrII phytoplasmas in Andhra Pradesh, India
    Shivani Gupta, Sesha Kiran Kollipara, Tirukoillur Mohanbabu Hemalatha, Hemavati Ranebennur, Govind Pratap Rao
    Phytopathogenic Mollicutes, 2025
    In recent years tomato big bud (TBB), a phytoplasma-associated disease has been noticed as alarming in several districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. Field surveys in mid-2024 across the Tirupati and Annamaya districts revealed an incidence of tomato big bud disease ranging from 32–100% with phyllody symptoms in tomato hybrid variety, Saaho (TO 3250). The phytoplasma presence was investigated employing universal phytoplasma specific nested primer pairs, from TBB symptomatic samples from both Tirupati and Annamaya districts. The BLAST analysis of 16Sr RNA gene sequences of TBB phytoplasma strains from both the surveyed districts showed 97.39-97.47% sequence identity with ‘Ca. P. australasiaticum’ reference strain. The phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences of detected TBB strains confirmed the presence of 16SrII-related phytoplasma strains.
  • Parthenium hysterophorus: a potential weed reservoir of tomato phytoplasmas in Andhra Pradesh, India
    Shivani Gupta, Sesha Kiran Kollipara, Tirukoillur Mohanbabu Hemalatha, Hemavati Ranebennur, Govind Pratap Rao
    Phytopathogenic Mollicutes, 2024
    In July-October 2024, phytoplasma suspected symptoms of phyllody were observed in Parthenium hysterophorus weed growing in and around tomato fields showing big bud symptoms at Tirupati and Annamayya districts of Andhra Pradesh. Total DNA from symptomatic P. hysterophorus leaves was extracted using CTAB method. The P1/Tint and R16F2n/R16R2 universal primers were used and all the symptomatic tomato and weed leaf samples yielded amplifications of about 1.2 kb in nested PCR assays. Pair wise sequence identity, phylogeny and virtual RFLP analysis of 16S rRNA gene of the parthenium phytoplasma strains confirmed the presence of a Ca. P. australasiae=australasiaticum’ strain in both the tested plants. Since the P. hysterophorus weed resulted infected with a strain closely related to those of the phytoplasmas identified in tomato showing big bud symptoms, it may play a crucial role as natural reservoir of these phytoplasmas. Group 16SrII phytoplasmas are spreading widely at several geographical locations in India in diverse crops and weed species, hence improved knowledge about their strain identity, epidemiology and control are essential to reduce their further spread into new locations.
  • Studies on Distribution of Sugarcane Yellow Leaf Virus in Commercially Grown Sugarcane Varieties in Andhra Pradesh
    T.M. Hemalatha, B.V. Bhaskara Reddy, R. Sarada Jayalakshmi, S.R. Koteswara Rao, M. Hemanth Kumar, G. Mohan Naidu
    Indian Journal of Agricultural Research, 2023
    Background: Among the diseases of sugarcane, Sugarcane yellow leaf disease (YLD) is one of the most prevalent diseases of sugarcane posing serious threat to the sugarcane cultivation worldwide. The current study aims at studying the distribution of SCYLV in the major sugarcane-growing of Andhra Pradesh and determining sequence identities, sequence variations and phylogenetic relationships between the SCYLV isolates reported earlier from India and worldwide. Methods: ORF1 and ORF2 regions of the viral genome coding for RNA dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRP) was amplified from twelve of the samples using the gene specific primers viz., SCYLV-F3 and SCYLV-R3. The ORF1 and ORF2 regions were studied for sequence similarity at nucleotide and aminoacid level and phylogentic relationships were established with the other SCYLV isolates. Result: The multiple sequence analysis of the isolates under the study with 22 similar sequences of SYLCV isolates reported from India and worldwide revealed 90.6-100% identities with IND, REU, BRA, CHN, HAW, CUB, COL and PER genotypes reported worldwide. The Indian isolates showed close phylogenetic relationship with the CUB and COL isolates. Hence it was confirmed from the study that SCYLV isolates collected from major sugarcane growing regions of Andhra Pradesh closely related to SCYLV-CUB and SCYLV-COL genotypes.
  • Studies on yield and quality of sugarcane affected by mixed infection of sugarcane grassy shoot and sugarcane yellow leaf diseases
    Pola Chandini, Madem Gurivi Reddy, Bommu Veera Bhaskara Reddy, Tirukoillur Mohanbabu Hemalatha, Madduri Subramanya Venkata Chalam, Mahal Reddy Kumar
    Phytopathogenic Mollicutes, 2023
    A survey conducted in 2022 in different districts of Andhra Pradesh, India revealed the presence of sugarcane grassy shoot disease and sugarcane yellow leaf disease in most of the sugarcane growing fields throughout the state. The incidence of sugarcane grassy shoot varied from 30 to 40% and sugarcane yellow leaf virus varied from 30 to 60% at all the surveyed locations. Different yield and quality parameters were compared in healthy and infected canes. The phytoplasma presence was confirmed by nested PCR assays using universal phytoplasma primers and the virus presence was confirmed by PCR assays using coat and movement protein primers. According to the study’s findings, this disease is significant, widely prevalent, and has a negative impact on sugarcane yield and quality parameters, causing substantial losses.
  • First Report of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’ Related Strain (16SrII-D) Associated with Stunting, Little Leaf, and Phyllody Disease of Pearl Millet from South India
    T. M. Hemalatha, M. Shantipriya, D. Vijay Kumar Naik, B. V. Bhaskara Reddy, M. Gurivi Reddy, L. Madhaviltha, M. Hemanth Kumar, B. Vajantha, N. V. Sarala, K. R. Tagore
    Plant Disease, 2023
    Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L).R.Br.] also known as bajra, is one of the oldest millets and is cultivated in dry regions of arid and semi-arid tropics where no other cereal can be successfully grown. Pearl millet cultivation in India accounts for about two-thirds of millet production and is the fourth most cultivated food crop after rice, wheat and maize in India (Reddy et al. 2021a). In February 2021, the typical symptoms of stunting, phyllody and little leaf were observed after 25-30 days after sowing pearl millet seeds at Agricultural Research Station in Perumallapalle, Tirupati, India (Fig.1 A-C). The disease incidence was recorded up to 20% in the sampling regions. Total DNA was extracted from two symptomatic and two asymptomatic plant samples using CTAB DNA extraction method (Murray and Thompson, 1980). The extracted DNA was amplified in direct PCR and nested PCR assay using phytoplasma 16S rRNA universal primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 (Gundersen and Lee.1996) and secA gene with secAfor1/SecArev3 and SecAfor2/SecArev3 primer pairs (Hodgetts et al. 2008). 16SrRNA (1.25 kb) and secA (600 bp) gene amplicons were obtained from two symptomatic samples by nested PCR. No amplicons were produced with DNA from healthy leaf samples. Nested PCR amplified products (1.25 kb and 600 bp) from the symptomatic samples corresponding to the F2nR2 region of 16S rRNA and secA were directly sequenced at automated DNA sequencing facility (Eurofin Genomics India Pvt., Ltd Bangalore) and sequence data was deposited to NCBI GenBank with accession number ON005559 and ON067810. BLAST analysis revealed that pearl millet phytoplasma strain shared 100% sequence identity in 16Sr RNA and secA genes to 'Canditatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia' related strains (Acc. Nos. OM616883 and MT952965) from India. The subgroup was identified as 16SrII-D using the iPhyClassifier based on the virtual RFLP pattern derived from the query 16S rDNA F2nR2 fragment (Zhao et al. 2009). The virtual RFLP pattern is similar to the reference pattern of 16SrII-D (Y10096) with similarity coefficient 1.00. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA and secA gene sequences using MEGA version 7.0 revealed that the pearl millet phytoplasma strain clustered with 'Ca. P. aurantifolia' isolates of 16SrII-D subgroup. (Fig.1D-E) Earlier, one of 16SrI-B-phytoplasma strain (HM 134245) associated with green ear disease of pearl millet was reported in North India (Kumar et al. 2010). In this study, we reported the association of 16SrII-D subgroup phytoplasma with little leaves and witches'-broom disease of pearl millet in South India. Phytoplasmas belonging to the 16SrII-D subgroup have a wide range of hosts, including the agricultural and horticultural crops (Reddy et al., 2021b). Hence, this is the first report of 'Ca. P aurantifolia' infection in bajra in South India. The increase in the spread of 16SrII-D sub group phytoplasma diseases and the expansion of the host range strongly suggest further studies on the epidemiology of the dynamic dissemination of this disease in India.
  • First report of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’ related strain associated with little leaf and witches’ broom disease of Hibiscus sabdariffa in India
    D. Vijay Kumar Naik, B. V. Bhaskara Reddy, L. Prasanthi, M. Guruvi Reddy, G. Sandhya, T. M. Hemalatha, R. Sarada Jayalakshi Devi
    New Disease Reports, 2023
    Mesta (roselle; Hibiscus sabdariffa) is an important annual vegetable crop cultivated in the Indian subcontinent and the young shoots and leaves of mesta are edible. In July 2021, little leaf and witches’-broom symptoms were observed in a mesta crop in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India (Figure 1). Leaf samples of two diseased and two asymptomatic plants were collected, and DNA was extracted using a modified CTAB DNA extraction method (Murray & Thomson, 1980). The DNA was used in nested or single PCR assays to detect the 16S rRNA and SAP genes using the phytoplasma 16S rRNA universal primer pairs P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2 (Deng & Hiruki, 1991; Gundersen & Lee 1996; Smart et al., 1996) and the SAP11-II-D F1/R1 primer pair (Subhi et al., 2018). Amplicons of the expected size for the 16S rRNA (1.8 and 1.26 kb) and SAP genes (c. 800bp) were produced from DNA of the diseased plants but not from asymptomatic plants. After direct Sanger sequencing (Eurofin Genomics India, Bangalore), a 1260 nt 16S rRNA gene (GenBank Accession No. OP019262) sequence and a 339 nt SAP gene (OP009357) sequence were submitted to GenBank. BLAST analysis revealed that the 16Sr RNA nucleotide sequence was identical to 16SrII group isolates from India that were associated with Croton bonplandianus (MT555412), Solanum lycopersicum (MN462969) and Parthenium hysterophorus (MG748744). The SAP gene sequence was identical to that of two ‘Parthenium hysterophorus’ witches'-broom phytoplasma (16SrII) isolates (MT225448, MT225449) from India and to the sequence of Cicer arietinum phyllody phytoplasma (KX358621) from Oman. The phytoplasma subgroup was identified as 16SrII-D using the iPhyClassifier online tool (https://plantpathology.ba.ars.usda.gov/cgi-bin/resource/iphyclassifier.cgi) which showed a similarity coefficient of 1.00 with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma australasia’ (Y10097). To date, the only phytoplasmas associated with diseases in mesta are related to the 16SrI-B group (KF923397) which was found in Taiwan (Tseng et al. 2014) and 16SrV group (JX975061) which was reported in India (Biswas et al., 2013). The 16SrII-D subgroup has been reported previously as widespread and infecting many crops and weeds in India, including Andhra Pradesh (Vijay Kumar Naik et al., 2018), so the detection is not surprising. However, this is the first report of 16SrII-D subgroup phytoplasma in mesta globally and in India. The authors would like to thank the support and encouragement from the Associate Director of the Research, Regional Agricultural Research Station, Tirupati.
  • Genetic Variability Studies of Yellow Mosaic Virus Infecting Blackgram [Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper] fromAndhra Pradesh, India
    D. Vijay Kumar Naik, B.V. Bhaskara Reddy, R. Sarada Jayalakshmi Devi, L. Prasanthi, R. Lakshminarayana Vemireddy, Akkari Srividhya, B.H. Chaithanya, T.M. Hemalatha, K. Sailaja
    Legume Research, 2022
    Background: The productivity of blackgram is affected by many biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses, yellow mosaic disease (YMD) cause severe yield loss and it is caused by four distinct viruses (belongs to genus begomovirus) collectively known as yellow mosaic virus (YMV). Hence there is need to characterize various YMV isolates associated with blackgram in Andhra Pradesh. Methods: YMV infected blackgram samples were collected from East Godavari, Kurnool and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh. The Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA) based full length MYMIV DNA-A and MYMV DNA-B of three isolates were cloned and sequenced. Result: Nucleotide sequence of full length DNA-A of MYMIV-East Godavari isolate showed greater than 96% similarity at nucleotide and greater than 90% at amino acid level with other MYMIV isolates in NCBI database. The complete DNA-A nucleotide sequence of MYMIV-Kurnool and MYMIV-Prakasam isolates shared greater than 99% similarity at nucleotide and greater than 98% at amino acid level with other MYMIV isolates. The complete nucleotide sequence of MYMV DNA-B of three isolates (East Godavari, Kurnool and Prakasam) had greater than 97% homology with other MYMV DNA-B isolates from database. The predicted amino acid sequence of MYMV DNA-B of three isolates shared greater than 96% homology with other MYMV-B isolates. The common region (CR) sequence similarity between MYMIV-As and MYMV-Bs of East Godavari and Kurnool isolates was 76.4% and 78.3% with Prakasam isolate. The divergence between the MYMIV-A and MYMV-B of present three isolates (East Godavari, Kurnool and Prakasam) under study were ranged from 22.2 to 22.6%.
  • First report of a ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ (16Sr I-B) associated with phyllody disease of Panicum sumatrense in India
    T. M. Hemalatha, D. Vijay Kumar Naik, L. Madhavilatha, B. V. Bhaskara Reddy, M. Shanti Priya, M. Gurivi Reddy, M. Hemanth Kumar, N. V. Sarala, B. Vajantha, K. R. Tagore
    New Disease Reports, 2022
  • GGE biplot analysis in finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] genotypes across agro-climatic zones of Andhra Pradesh
    L Madhavilatha, C. Kiran Kumar Reddy, N. Anuradha, I. Sudheer Kumar, A. B. M. Sirisha, T. M. Hemalatha and M. Hemanth Kumar
    Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding, 2022
    The main focus of the study is to identify promising finger millet genotypes with yield stability and adaptability for wide range of environments as well as to identify ideal mega-environments using genotype plus genotype and environment interaction (GGE) biplot method. Grain yield of finger millet genotypes were remarkably influenced by environment (E), genotypes (G) and their interaction (G x E). The genotype and environment interaction was significant though comparatively less than location and genotype effects. The study has spotted the best varieties suitable for cultivation across five zones of finger millet growing areas of Andhra Pradesh. The cultivar PPR-1152 is recognized as the perfect genotype as it showed higher grain yield and stability compared with other cultivars in all places. Among locations Vizianagaram was the best discriminative and better representative location than other locations and perfect testing site for choosing finger millet cultivars effectively for adaptation in Andhra Pradesh. Keywords:  Finger millet, GGE biplot analysis, Multi-location testing, Yield stability
  • Regeneration and evaluation of somaclones of sugarcane variety Co86032 for yellow leaf disease resistance and yield traits
    Praveen Kona, M Hemanth Kumar, K H P Reddy, T M Hemalatha, D M Reddy, N P Eswar Reddy, P Latha
    Journal of Biosciences, 2019
  • Inhibition of aspergillus flavus colonization and aflatoxin (AfB1) in peanut by methyleugenol
    Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 2009

RESEARCH OUTPUTS (PATENTS, SOFTWARE, PUBLICATIONS, PRODUCTS)

-Developed protocol for serological detection of sugarcane yellow leaf virus in infected samples of sugarcane.
-Developed sugarcane somaclone (2016T7) resistant to sugarcane yellow leaf disease.
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