Potato spindle tuber viroid detected in volunteer and wild plants in Western Australia (AU)
During studies conducted from 2007 to 2012 in Western Australia (AU), Potato spindle tuber viroid (Pospiviroid, PSTVd – EPPO A2 List) was detected in volunteer and wild plants in the Gascoyne Horticultural District. This area is located in the arid central coastal region of Western Australia and along the Gascoyne River. In this irrigated area, a wide range of temperate, tropical and subtropical crops are grown including solanaceous crops. In this area, PSTVd was first detected in field tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) in 2006. Since then, PSTVd has frequently been detected in field crops of tomato, pepper and chilli (Capsicum spp.). During these studies, PSTVd was detected in volunteer plants of tomato, pepper and chilli, as well as in the following wild and weed plants: Atriplex semilunaris, Conyza bonariensis, Datura leichhardtii, Nicandra physalodes, Rhagodia eremaea, Solanum nigrum, and Streptoglossa sp. In addition, PSTVd was detected in another location in Western Australia, in the Ord River irrigation area (Kimberley region) on Physalis angulata. It is concluded that in these areas of Western Australia, volunteer and wild plants probably act as reservoirs for the viroid and that this may explain the occurrence of repeated PSTVd outbreaks in nearby solanaceous crops.
Sources
Mackie AE, Rodoni BC, Barbetti MJ, McKirdy SJ, Jones RAC (2016) Potato spindle tuber viroid: alternative host reservoirs and strain found in a remote subtropical irrigation area. European journal of Plant Pathology 145(2), 433-446.