Changes in the Concentration of an Allexivirus During the Crop Cycle of Two Garlic Cultivars

CAFRUNE, E; BALZARINI, M; CONCI, V

PLANT DISEASE

American Phytopathological Society

Lugar: USA; Año: 2006 vol. 90 p. 1293 - 1296

0191-2917

Garlic is infected by a mixture of viruses, including Garlic mite-borne filamentous virus (GarMbFV), of the genus Allexivirus. For reliable diagnosis, plants should be sampled when virus titer is high to reduce the risk of identifying infected plants as healthy. The objective of this study was to describe fluctuations in the concentration of GarMbFV by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) throughout the crop cycle of two garlic cultivars, Morado-INTA and Nieve-INTA. The study was performed for two consecutive years with the correlation between virus concentration and mean air temperature was also evaluated. For both cultivars, virus concentration was assessed during the growing period using samples from youngest leaves tips of chronically GarMbFV-infected plants, as well as from stored bulbs of Morado-INTA using both dormant and devernalized basal sections of cloves. GarMbFV concentration varied during the crop cycle with two concentration peaks observed, at the beginning and the end of the crop cycle. Virus concentration was significantly higher devernalized than in dormant cloves of Morado-INTA. Correlation between average RC values and daily temperatures at the sampling dates, average daily temperature of the 5 and 10 days previous sampling were not significantly (p>0.05). Virus concentration could be associated with plant physiology stages which depends on closely related factors, not only temperature.