1Department of Plant Pathology, Centre for Plant Protection Studies, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003.
2Advanced Centre for Plant Virology, Division of Plant Pathology, IARI, Pusa, New Delhi-110012.
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.
Since the appearance of the crippling disease of groundnut in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh in 2002, an attempt was made to identify the occurrence of the same in Tamil Nadu and neighboring Kerala. Hence a survey was undertaken in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu and Palaghat district of Kerala. Two important cultivars viz., TMV 2 and Co. 4 were grown generally in these areas. In both the varieties, the disease incidence ranged from 5 to 10%. The affected plants show necrosis on the stem and petiole and the leaves become brown and dry slowly. When the disease spreads to all the branches, the plants wilt and die resulting in poor or no pod formaton. The disease occurs both in irrigated Rabi and rainfed Kharif seasons. Cowpea leaves inoculated with sap from infected plants showed chlorotic and necrotic spots typical of TSV Electron microscopic observation revealed the presence of isometric virus particles. This is the first record of natural occurrence of TSV in groundnut in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
