Influence of viral pathogens on the market appearance of pepper fruits

Abstract

Diagnostic trials for detecting most widespread viruses on pepper fruits were carried out in the Department of Plant Protection of the Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection “Nikola Poushkarov”, Sofia, for the period 2012-2017 by ELISA method (DAS-ELISA). Samples from pepper fruits with symptoms of virus diseases were collected from markets near towns Sofia and Plovdiv. Symptoms of virus diseases on pepper fruits were described and the influence of the damages upon the yield was commented. The samples were tested by DAS-ELISA with antisera for seven viral pathogens: Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), Potato virus Y (PVY) and Broad bean wilt virus (BBWV). These plant viruses are widespread on large numbers of agricultural crops and were very important for pepper. Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was established as the basic and most widespread and as an agent responsible for the injuries on pepper fruits. The indicator method with some diagnostic test plants for TSWV, CMV and TMV (ToMV) was used for identification of these viruses. It was proven that the infectious character of TSWV from one year to the other, i.e. in duration of the infection over 8 months, was preserved by freezing through -20oC, as in the flesh of the spotted and deformed pepper fruits, as well as in pepper isolates of TSWV, multiplied in indicator plants (most often on Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun NN).