1Horticultural Science Research Institute, Citrus and Subtropical Fruits Research Center, Agricultural Research Educationand Extension Organization, Ramsar, Iran
2Plant Protection Research Department, Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization, Zarghan, Iran
*Corresponding author e-mail: Morteza Golmohammadi (mgolm2009@gmail.com)
Online published on 23 May, 2023.
Previous studies showed that environmental factors like temperature affect symptom development and phytoplasma concentration within the plant tissues. In this study, under warm (35–37°C and 25–27°C day/night) and cool condition the reaction of a susceptible genotype of Persian lime to ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’ was investigated by graft inoculation. Under warm condition it took 9 weeks for the symptom expression in Persian lime shoots, but no symptoms were observed under cool conditions. Also, the mean copy numbers of ‘Ca. P. aurantifolia’ per 100 ng of plant total DNA was higher than that under cool conditions and showed significant differences (p<0.01). These results indicate that temperature plays an important role in ‘Ca. P. aurantifolia’ concentration and symptom development in citrus species.
Symptom development, Grafting, Quantitative PCR
