Peach latent mosaic viroid in commercial peach and nectarine cultivars in USA
Peach latent mosaic viroid (EPPO A1 quarantine pest), originally described in Spain has recently been reported to be present in many parts of the world (see EPPO RS 96/175 which also proposes that this viroid can no longer be considered as the agent of American peach mosaic). In USA, this has prompted a survey of peach and nectarine cultivars collected from California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington. A total of more than 1000 trees from the field, and 291 trees grown in screen houses were tested (dot-blot hybridization method). Over 50 % of the trees were found infected with peach latent mosaic viroid in both peach and nectarine from all states. The authors noted that this is the first report of the viroid in commercial cultivars of peach and nectarine in United States.
Sources
Skrzeczkowski, L.E.; Howell, W.E., Mink, G.I. (1996) Occurrence of peach latent mosaic viroid in commercial peach and nectarine cultivars in the U.S.
Plant Disease, 80(7), p 823.