Occurrence of artichoke latent potyvirus (Arlv) and tomato spotted wilt virus (tswv) as mixed infection in artichoke production areas

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus), is one of the most important agricultural products of North Cyprus (NC) due to its importance in export. During field surveys in artichokes production fields between 2013 and 2016, little and indistinguishable leaves, light shaded regions taking after mosaic with yellowish wilting of the leaves and little head development plants were gathered and broken down by DAS-ELISA for the examination of infections (most of them mentioned by Gallitelli et al. (2004)) which could be harmful to artichokes (belonging to groups of Nepovirus, Cheravirus, Fabavirus, Ilarvirus, Cucumovirus, Tombusvirus, Tobamovirus, Tobravirus, Potyvirus, Carlavirus, Potexvirus, Crinivirus, Tospovirus, Anulavirus, in the families of Rhabdoviridae and Bromoviridae respectively). Thirty-three samples were detected positive for mix infection of Artichoke Latent Potyvirus (ArLV) and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in Laboratory assays (ELISA and RT-PCR). The results were also confirmed by RT-PCR using total RNA which was extracted from the leaves. RT-PCR assay was conducted by newly designed Sense and antisense primer pairs specific to ArLV; L1TSWVR and L2TSWVF primer pairs specific to TSWV. As results of RT-PCR, the region of 485 bp special to coat protein of ArLV and 276 bp of TSWV were obtained in 2% agarose gel. While occurrence of remaining viruses was not detected in the tested samples, it was observed that disease incidence increased due to non-sterile equipment and devices during the harvest. Additionally, infected product materials, transmission with aphid and thrips vectors also increased disease incidence. In NC, the occurrence of ArLV was assigned as a new virus disease in Artichoke and also mixed infection with TSWV. © 2019, ALÖKI Kft., Budapest, Hungary.Acknowledgments. This work was supported by Virology Labs of Akdeniz University, Faculty of Agriculture, Plant Protection Department and Pozantı Vocational School of Çukurova University