Chapter 40 - Economic significance of viruses in horticultural crops

Abstract

Plants are vulnerable to many harmful agents including viruses. Also, there are tens of nonliving factors such as mineral deficiencies, toxicities, air pollution, and cold and hot temperatures that incite crop yield losses. Nearly EUR 40 billion loss in crop yields is caused by viruses worldwide annually (Lázár and Bisztray, 2011). Among pathogens, viruses are unique because it is relatively difficult to detect and identify them, so it is yet possible that losses from viruses are mistakenly attributed to other factors because of asymptomatic infections and/or lack of resources for detection particularly in underdeveloped countries. As such, viruses keep causing losses in crops. In this study, we try to ring the bell for the significance of the losses from viral infections in horticultural crops from fruit trees to vegetables.