15th Triennial Meeting of the Virology Section of the European Association of Potato Research (EAPR), Antalya, Turkey, 28 - 31 May 2013, vol.1, no.1, pp.1-2, (Full Text)
Potato production in Northern Cyprus (TNRC) is realized using certified seeds in the main production and the second production is made using the selected tubers of the main production. All production is made open fields without using any cover material. Samples were collected from the plants showing virus diseases symptoms in main and second production fields. The collected 503 samples were tested for 14 important virus diseases by using the ELISA and RT-PCR techniques. Total 298 samples were collected from main
potato production areas plants showing virus disease symptoms. It was found that the tested main production potato samples were infected with Potato Y virus (PVY), (35 % ), Alfalfa Mosaic Virus (AMV) (28 %),Potato X virus (PVX) (18 %) and Potato Leaf Roll Virus (PLRV) (14 %). In addition to those results 3% of the samples were infected with Potato S virus (PSV) and Potato Mop Top Virus (PMTV). Total 205 samples were collected on second potato production fields from plants showing virus disease symptoms. It was found
that the tested second production potato samples were infected with 63 % PVY, 28 % AMV, 29 % Potato X virus (PVX) and 28 % PLRV. DNA fragments were directly sequenced and compared with other isolates by using the BLAST. It was concluded that 95 to 98% of the studied isolates displayed nucleotide identity with the coat protein gene of the Nederland, Scotland and Germany isolates. It can be concluded that the use of non-certified seeds and lack of vector protection were common in the second production fields resulting in high infection rates.
Keywords: Potato, virus, detection, PCR, Cyprus.