author(s)
Rojeet Thangjam and AS Vastrad

abstract
Changes in different biochemical parameters viz., total phenols, reducing sugar and total protein were compared in healthy and Phyllody infected plant samples of sesame (cv DSS-9) sown on different dates. Results indicated that the Phyllody infected samples contained more total phenols, reducing sugar and total protein compared to the uninfected samples. The total phenol content of diseased samples was found to be 30 and 25 mg/g however, the healthy samples consistently recorded low phenol content (18 and 22 mg/g) in the 1^st and 2^nd date of sowing respectively. Irrespective of the dates of sowing, diseased samples recorded higher reducing sugar (35 and 18 mg/g) compared to healthy samples (13 and 15 mg/g, respectively). The diseased sample from 1^st and 2^nd date of sowing recorded highest content of total protein (60 and 58 mg/g) while healthy samples recorded 46 and 39 mg/g of total protein respectively. The elevated levels of different biochemical parameters in diseased plants indicate that the reaction of plants to Phytoplasma infection is induced rather than constitutive.