Current status and prospects of research on main diseases of rubber trees

<p indent="0mm">Rubber tree is an important tropical economic crop in China, and natural rubber is of great significance in national defense security, economic construction, and people’s lives. The occurrence and prevalence of diseases have always been important biological limiting factors that restrict the sustainable development of the natural rubber industry. This article summarizes the research status of the main diseases that infect rubber tree leaves, stems, and roots in the past decade. It elaborates on the occurrence and prevalence patterns of diseases, monitoring and early warning technologies, pathogenic and disease resistance mechanisms, as well as the current status of disease control technologies and applications. It also discusses challenges including outdated monitoring and prevention technologies, high labor costs, insufficient utilization of disease resistant germplasms, and low levels of intelligence. Suggestions have been made for the construction of basic database for rubber tree diseases, in-depth research on the mechanism underlying the rubber tree diseases, and building a platform for the unified monitoring, prevention, and control of rubber tree diseases. It provides a theoretical and practical basis for the macro-control and precise prevention of the main diseases of rubber trees, which will help achieve healthy, green, and sustainable development of the natural rubber industry.