Detection methods for cherry little cherry disease
In Canada, comparative studies were carried out on the detection of cherry little cherry disease (EU Annex II/A1, for non-European isolates). Sweet and sour cherry trees (Prunus avium and P. cerasus) from orchards in the Kootenay and Okanagan valleys of British Columbia were tested for the presence of cherry little cherry disease by three different methods: Northern blot analysis of dsRNA with a specific radiolabelled probe, inoculation of P. avium cv. Lambert for fruit symptoms, and inoculation of cv. Canindex 1 for foliar symptoms. Results of the three methods were in agreement for 85 % of the samples. The authors felt that the Northern blot analysis was the most reliable and rapid method of diagnosis, as testing on woody hosts is often impaired by the poor transmission of the disease to the indicator tree.
Sources
Eastwell, K.C.; Bernardy, M.G.; Li, T.S.C. (1996) Comparison between woody indexing and a rapid hybridisation assay for the diagnosis of little cherry disease in cherry trees.
Annals of applied Biology, 128(2), 269-277.