Department of Botanical and Environmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar-143 005, India.
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.
Kinnow, a hybrid between king and willow mandarins (Citus nobilis Lour x Citrus deliciosa Tenora) is one of the most important fruit crops of North Indian states including Punjab. In recent years, a tremendous loss in yield and quality of this crop has been observed due to various bacterial, fungal and viral diseases. Among different viruses known to infect kinnow, Indian citrus ringspot virus (ICRSV) is of special concern because of its wide range distribution throughout the state of Punjab. ICSRV infection has caused heavy losses to the kinnow orchards of the state and the country. In this paper, we will discuss the use of extact of leaves of Azadiracta indica (commonly known as neem) coupled with shoot tip grafting in vitro for elimination of ICSRV from kinnow. Nodal segments from ICRSV infected kinnow plants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with desirable PGRs along with different concentrations of neem leaf extract. Shoot tips were excised from these nodal sprouts and micrografted onto rough lemon seedlings in vitro. Maximum number of virus-free plants (50%) was obtained with neem extract at a concentration of 24 mg/l. Application of neem extract coupled with in vitro shoot tip grafting can be successfully employed for the elimination of ICRSV from Citrus spp.
