Disease Note.

First Report of Carnation Necrotic Fleck Virus in Spain. A. Batlle, Department de Patologia Vegetal, Institut de Recerca i Tec-nologia Agroalimentaries, 08348 Cabrils (Barcelona), Spain. A. Lavina, Department de Patologia Vegetal, Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentaries, 08348 Cabrils (Barcelona), Spain . Plant Dis. 78:1122. Accepted for publication 14 June 1994. Copyright 1994 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-78-1122C.

Carnation necrotic fleck closterovirus (CNFV) causes one of the most serious virus diseases in Dianthus caryophyllus L. The symptoms are yellow or purple, partially necrotic streaks or flecks in the older leaves (which later dry) and can include the death of the plant in more susceptible cultivars. When CNFV appears together with carnation mottle car-movirus (CarMV), it produces a more severe streak syndrome, which caused severe losses in France during 1970-1975. CNFV had not been found in Europe since 1975 and was thought to have been eradicated. However, recently it has been identified in carnation plantations in the former Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic (I). In Spain, this virus was not identified in any of the samples collected on commercial plantations during a 5-yr survey (1988-1992). In this survey, 10,000 samples representing 30 different cultivars were screened for CarMV, carnation etched ring virus (CERV), carnation latent virus (CLV), carnation ringspot virus (CRSV), carnation vein mottle virus (CVMV), and CNFV. Neither CRSV nor CNFV was found in any commercial plantation. However, in September 1993, CNFV was identified in samples with severe symptoms from Andalucia (Spain). The virus was detected by DAS-ELISA using immunoglobulins specific to CNFV. Antisera were provided by Sanofi Phyto-diagnostics, Libourne, France. The presence of CNFV was also confirmed by mechanical inoculation of Saponaria vaccaria L. The typical symptoms of leaf roll, stunting, and death developed. This is the first report of CNFV in Spain, the principal source of carnations in Europe.