ISHS Acta Horticulturae 309: XV International Symposium on Fruit Tree Diseases
OCCURRENCE OF PETUNIA ASTEROID MOSAIC (PAMV) AND CARNATION ITALIAN RINGSPOT (CIRV) VIRUSES IN CHERRY ORCHARDS IN NORTHERN BAVARIA |
| Authors: | E. Pfeilstetter, V. Zinkernagel, L. Kunze |
| Abstract:
In the fruit-growing area near Nuremberg a viral twig necrosis was observed in sweet cherries, which is characterised by necrosis on the shoot-tips and necrotic spots on the leaf-veins and fruits. Earlier this disease had been described in other countries as "cherry detrimental canker". Intensive investigations during the last years showed a wide distribution of the disease in Northern Bavaria. Trees from all varieties of sweet cherry were affected. All infected trees are grafted on rootstocks deriving from Prunus avium. Until now no infection has been found in cherry trees grafted on "Weiroot"-rootstocks, which are selections of P. cerasus. By serological indexing Petunia asteroid mosaic virus (PAMV), a member of the tombusvirus group, was detected in most of the diseased trees. But in 1987 another tombusvirus, carnation Italian ringspot virus (CIRV), was found in a cherry tree with symptoms. This was the first report of this virus in woody plants. Meanwhile it could be detected in more than 100 trees. The virus produces the same symptoms as PAMV, but the effects to the tree are less severe. In order to detect the viruses at an early stage of infection their distribution within the trees was tested. The viral antigens are extremely uneven in their distribution. By ELISA it could be detected reliably in samples from symptom-bearing plant tissues only. Therefore, indexing for latent infections of cherries with PAMV or CIRV is not possible at the moment. As the detection of the viruses is strongly correlated with the occurrence of symptoms, PAMV and CIRV are considered as the causal agent of the viral twig necrosis, even though the viruses have not yet been back-transmitted from herbaceous hosts to sweet cherry. | |
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