Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV), Banana streak virus (BSV), and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) (genus Cucumovirus, family Bromoviridae [2]) cause widespread economic losses on banana (Musa sp.) throughout the world and have been reported on banana in different countries including Pakistan along its southeastern border with Iran (1). A survey was conducted from 2004--2005 to identify viruses infecting banana in greenhouses in different growing areas in northern Iran, Mazandaran Province (Sari, Babol, Behshahr, and Ghaemshahr cities). A total of 180 samples from seven banana-growing greenhouses with symptoms of mosaic, chlorosis, stunting, and fruit malformation were collected. All samples were tested for CMV with polyclonal antibodies using double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) (CMV strain D subgroup I; gifted by H. Lecoq, INRA, Avignion, France). For sap inoculation onto indicator test plants, selected ELISA-positive leaf samples were ground in chilled 0.01 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, containing 0.15% 2-mercaptoethanol. Chlorotic and necrotic local lesions developed on Chenopodium amaranticolor and Vigna unguiculata (cv. Mashad local) 10 and 12 days postinoculation, respectively. Cucumis sativus and Nicotiana rustica also developed systemic mosaic symptoms (3). All indicator test plants were rechecked for the presence of CMV using DAS-ELISA. On the basis of serological tests and indicator host plants reactions, CMV was identified in 32% of samples including Sari (13.8%), Babol (2.7%), Behshahr (10%) and Ghahemshahr (5%), respectively. Fifty-five samples did not react with CMV antiserum but the presence of symptoms resembling BBTV and BSV (4) emphasizes the need for further investigations to confirm the presence and identities of other viruses.
References: (1) J. Bird and F. L. Wellman. Phytopathology 52:286, 1962. (2) S. K. Choi et al. J. Virol. Methods 83:67, 1999. (3) A. J. Gibbs and B. D. Harrison. Descriptions of Plant Viruses. No.1. CMI/AAB, Surrey, England, 1970. (4) R. C. Ploetz et al., eds. Compendium of Tropical Fruit Diseases. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1994.
