Department of Plant Pathology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003.
Abstracts of Research Papers Presented during the National Symposium of Indian Virological Society at Unit of Plant Virology, Division of Plant Pathology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi-110 012, October 14–1.
The genus Tospovirus within the family Bunyaviridae encompasses a group of viruses that cause devastating diseases of many economically important crops. Recently Tospovirus infection has been noticed in a severe form on various crops grown in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. Survey conducted under field condition showed that the disease incidence was more severe in cowpea (up to 37%). Under field conditions, symptoms on cowpea, lablab, tomato and groundnut included chlorotic spots on leaves and necrotic lesions on petioles. The symptomatic samples when inoculated to cowpea var. COCP 7 produced chlorotic rings. To biological differentiate these tospoviruses, they were inoculated to diagnostic hosts viz., Ghenopodium amaranticolor, Gomphrena globosa, Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana glutinosa. However, these virus isolates showed little difference in symptom on the hosts. These tospoviruses showed positive reaction with Groundnut bud necrosis virus (GBNV) and Watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMV) antisera and negatively reacted with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) antiserum in ELISA. The results suggest that Tospovirus isolates in Tamil Nadu infecting cowpea, lablab, groundnut and tomato belong to the serogroup IV of tospovirus.
