Screening for viruses infecting chrysanthemum cultivars in India

Screening of chrysanthemum cultivars was carried out using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), northern hybridization and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Chrysanthemum B (CVB), Cucumber mosaic (CMV), Tomato aspermy (TAV), tospo- and potyviruses. By hybridization and RT-PCR, 48.7%, 42.5%, 26.2%, 12.5% and 6.25% cultivars were found to be infected with CVB, CMV, TAV, tospo- and potyviruses, respectively out of 80 cultivars tested. CVB was the most prevalent virus while infections by poty- and tospoviruses were found less frequently. The percentage of the single virus infection in chrysanthemum cultivars under study was the highest (35%) followed by double (26.25%), triple (8.75%) and for tetra and pentavirus infection it was 2.5%. Nucleic acid based detection techniques were found to be more reliable and sensitive than ELISA.