1Plant Quarantine Division, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110 012.
2Tissue Culture & Cryopreserva-tion Unit, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110 012.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the XVIII National Conference of Indian Virological Society at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India, December 11–13, 2008.
Allium germplasm including its species are conserved in gene bank at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. Eleven species viz. A. angulosum, A. ascalonicum, A. cernuum, A. chinense, A. fistulosum, A. griffithianum, A. hookeri, A. oreoprasum, A. royelii, A. senescens and A. tuberosum were tested by ELISA for six Allium viruses against commercially available antisera kits. These include Carnation latent virus (CLV), Garlic common latent virus (GCLV), Leek yellow stripe virus (SYSV), Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV), Shallot latent virus (SLV) and Shallot yellow stripe virus (SYSV). Allium ascalonicum (IC353523) was found to be infected with OYDV and CLV and A. cernuum (IC353525) infected with OYDV when tested by ELISA. All other species tested were virus-free against the six viruses tested by ELISA. A. chinense, A. fistulosum, A. griffithianum, A. hookeri and A. tuberosum are in vitro conserved in gene bank of NBPGR.