Incidence and Distribution of Tomato Spotted Wilt Tospovirus (TSWV) in Vegetable Crops in Antalya Province of Turkey

Abstract

Large scale surveys were conducted during 2007-2009 to monitor the incidence and distribution of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants growing greenhouses in Antalya province including Center (Aksu, Kursunlu, Camkoy and Altinova villages), Serik (Center and Cakallık villages) and Kumluca (Center, Mavikent and Beykonak villages) districts by DAS-ELISA tests. In total, 42 tomato, 69 pepper and 12 lettuce commercial greenhouses were surveyed and a total number of 596 samples were collected from 193 tomato, 345 pepper and 58 lettuce plants. TSWV was detected in 526 samples (88%) from 156 tomato (81%), 316 pepper (92%), 54 lettuce (93%) plants. Three TSWV isolates, coded S1, K1 and A1 were selected from tomato, pepper and lettuce samples respectively for biological characterization. The symptom severity and expression times on indicator plants were varied for each TSWV isolate. The symptoms caused by the lettuce isolate (A1) were observed in 7-10 days whereas for tomato (S1) and pepper (K1) isolates in 20-24 days after inoculation. The S1, K1 and A1 isolates were also additionally confirmed by RT-PCR using two different TSWV specific primers (L1TSWVR (AAT TGC CTT GCA ACC AAT TC)-L2TSWVF (ATC AGT CGA AAT GGT CGG CA) and BR035 (GAA TAT ATG ACA CCA TTG)-PDH006 (CCC AGA GCA ATC AGT GCA)) and the amplicons of the expected sizes, 276 and 514 bp, were obtained.