Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

Fiftynine peach, 19 apricot and 19 plum varieties, grown in a screenhouse after inoculation by chip budding with the M strain of Plum pox virus (PPV), were surveyed from 2003 through 2007 for symptom expression on the leaves, flowers and fruits. A large number of accessions of the three species showed discoloration and mottling of the leaves in spring, and many peach varieties with pink flowers displayed strong colour breaking of the petals. Some peach and apricot and a single plum cultivar produced deformed fruit with typical rings and mottling. Eleven out of 97 inoculated cultivars, showed no apparent symptoms and gave negative responses in ELISA and Real time PCR assays. These plants were re-inoculated with the same PPV isolate and will be the object of further observations.