Elimination of mixed infection of Cucumber mosaic and Tomato aspermy virus from Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. cv. Pooja by shoot meristem culture

Mixed infection of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Tomato aspermy virus (TAV) was detected in Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. cv. Pooja plants by direct antigen coating enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAC-ELISA) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Elimination of CMV and TAV was achieved by culturing 0.3 mm long shoot meristem of infected plants on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l NAA. The regenerated plants were indexed by DAC-ELISA and confirmed by RT-PCR. A total of 78.1% CMV and TAV-free shootlets were obtained from the regenerated shoot meristem as indexed by DAC-ELISA, of which only 65.6% were found truly virus-free when confirmed by RT-PCR. Virus-free shootlets were rooted on half MS medium and acclimatized under glasshouse. These plants showed better growth and quality of blooms as compared to diseased ones.