Identification and frequency of most important Tomato viruses in Bushehr province

Subject Areas : Virology

Abbas Sharzei ¹ (Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Aburaihan campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.)
Sara Heidary ² (M.Sc., Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.)
Leila Shahbazi ³ (M.Sc., Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Marvdasht branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran.)
Fariba Raoufi ⁴ (M.Sc. Student, Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.)
Zahra Mohandesy ⁵ (M.Sc. Student, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Aburaihan campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.)

Received: 2014-01-03 Accepted : 2014-04-07 Published : 2015-01-01

Keywords: TYLCV, ZYMV, EMDV, CMV, AMV,

Abstract :

Background & Objectives: Bushehr province is one of the major out of season tomato growing centres in Iran. The present study aimed to identify the most important tomato viruses and to determine their frequency following observation of the massive damages in these farms. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 tomato samples collected from fields in Bushehr province, which showed signs of leaf mosaic, vein clearing, mottling, and stunting. The samples were tested by DAS-ELISA using polyclonal antibodies against major known tomato viruses to identify the viruses. Results: The results showed that tomato fields were infected with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), Eggplant mottled dwarf virus (EMDV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), Potato virus X (PVX) and Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) with a frequency of 94.5, 72, 65, 56.7, 27, 5.4 and 5%, respectively. No infections were observed with Squash mosaic virus (SMV), Potato virus Y (PVY), Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) and Potato leaf roll virus (PLRV). Conclusion: The results of this study showed highly contamination (50-95%) of these fields to TYLCV, ZYMV, EMDV and CMV. Therefore, application of precautionary operations, especially at the level of purchasing the spores and tracking the sings of diseases and vector insects, looks necessary to control the distribution of these viruses.