ISHS Acta Horticulturae 808: II International Symposium on Tomato Diseases
TOMATO VIRUSES IN ITALY: EVOLUTION IN THE PAST FEW DECADES AND PRESENT STATUS |
| Author: | A. Crescenzi |
| Keywords: | tomato, virus, Italy |
| Abstract:
During the past few decades the phytosanitary status of tomato cultivation in Italy has gradually declined, both because of the climatic conditions that have favoured the diffusion and proliferation of viruses and of the increase of the international commercial exchanges, favouring the introduction of previously unrecorded viruses, associated to the emergence of new and more viruliferous variants of endemic ones. Three of the more common and widespread viruses, present in Italy at least from ‘70s, are Tomato Mosaic Virus (TMV) (also referred to as Tobacco Mosaic Virus, ToMV)), the aphid-borne Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV), and Potato Virus Y (PVY). The last two, often in mixed infections, were originally present only with non necrogenic variants. Later on CMV, in association with a necrogenic RNA satellite – was responsible of wide outbreaks in the main tomato production areas in southern Italy. Necrogenic variants of PVY have been recently reported too. The introduction in Italy of Frankliniella occidentalis and Bemisia tabaci was followed by the appearance of the very serious Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV), actually endemic and the greatest threat for tomato crops, and of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Sardinia Virus (TYLCSV) and Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV), now endemic in southern Italy. Among the emerging viruses, the most dangerous are doubtless the whitefly-transmitted Tomato Infectious Chlorosis Virus (TICV) and Tomato Chlorosis Virus (ToCV), mostly limited to southern Italy and with a great potential to become widespread. New and more aggressive variants of Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) and ToMV have also been described. The contact-transmitted Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), included in the EPPO alert list, has been detected in protected tomato crops in southern Italy and, fortunately, immediately eradicated. | |
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