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Significance

Cucumber mosaic virus occurs worldwide and is considered a very important disease in temperate, tropic and subtropic regions of the world. Crop losses vary from year to year since the amount of disease occurrence depends upon the number of aphids available for virus transmission in the spring or fall when the crops are established as determined by geographical location. If the spring or fall is cool and wet, aphid numbers are decreased and virus spread is sporadic, with infected plants primarily located in rows bordering the edges of the field. However, if the spring or fall is warmer with less frequent rains, aphid populations increase rapidly on perennial crops that harbor CMV, and virus spreads rapidly into crops that are young and especially attractive to migrating aphids. In such cases, infection rates may approach 100% and the crop may have to be abandoned. On average, losses of 10-20% are common, and in some instances the crop may still be harvested, but is of poorer quality and appearance.

The virus can infect nearly 1,200 plant species. The host range includes many important vegetable crops including artichoke, beans (broad, lima, snap) [Figure 4 I], beet (garden and sugar), carrot, celery [Figure 4 F, G], cucurbits (chayote, cucumber, loofah, melon, pumpkin, summer and winter squash, watermelon) [Figure 3 A-E], lettuce [Figure 4 E], pea, pepper [Figure 4 A-C], potato, sweet potato (Ipomoea), spinach [Figure 4 D], and tomato [Figure 4 H, 5, 6]). Other crops affected include alfalfa (symptomless), banana (symptomless or mild to severe damage), chickpea, lupin, oil seed rape, subterranean clover, and yams (Dioscorea spp.). Ornamentals infected include anemone, candytuft, columbine, dahlia, delphinium, geranium, gladiolus, lily, marigold, petunia, phlox, viola, zinnia, etc., and woody and semiwoody plants (ixora, passion fruit, etc.). Numerous isolates of CMV have been reported as strains, some of which are specific for given crops.

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