Little leaf of brinjal early stages of plant growth. However, in cases of late season infections fruits may remain small, become hard and unfit for consumption or marketing. The disease is caused by a plant pathogenic mollicute, "Phytoplasma" (earlier known as mycoplasmalike organism or MLO) and is transmitted by the insect vector, "Hishimonus phycitis" which belongs to the group of leafhoppers. Management of the insect vector by means of insecticides and cultivation of resistant varieties are the principal means of management of the disease. Little leaf of brinjal Little leaf of brinjal or eggplant ("Solanum melongena" L.) is one of the most serious diseases
Vegetable meaning then being "the edible part of such a plant". A more precise definition is "any plant part consumed for food that is not a fruit or seed, but including mature fruits that are eaten as part of a main meal". Falling outside these definitions are edible fungi (such as edible mushrooms) and edible seaweed which, although not parts of plants, are often treated as vegetables. In the latter-mentioned definition of "vegetable", which is used in everyday language, the words "fruit" and "vegetable" are mutually exclusive. "Fruit" has a precise botanical meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary