Abstract
Tomato and pepper are the main vegetable crops cultivated in Bulgaria. Phytoplasma diseases, mainly stolbur, are important plant diseases for these crops in Bulgaria. The goal of the present paper was to verify association of phytoplasmas with the observed disease symptoms in tomato and pepper and to identify the phytoplasmas detected using RFLP analysis of conserved genes and other uncharacterised phytoplasma chromosomal regions. The presence of phytoplasmas was confirmed in all the samples of tomato and pepper showing typical stolbur symptoms. A phytoplasm sample, which caused severe symptoms, showed the same pattern as the reference strain Mol, while all other phytoplasmic reference strains showed different polymorphisms. RFLP profiles were found useful in distinguishing phytoplasmas in stolbur subgroup (16SrXII-A) in natural plant hosts.
Highlights
Tomato and pepper are the main vegetable crops cultivated in open field in Bulgaria
Plants with typical disease symptoms were collected from the experimental field of Agricultural University of Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, in the Maritza river valley
The DNA samples were resuspended in TE buffer and diluted to concentration of 20 ng/μl.DNA samples of identified phytoplasma strains Stolbur (Stol), Deperissement du lavandin (Dep) and Molière disease (Mol) belonging to subgroup 16SrXIIA and strain elm yellows (EY) belonging to 16SrV-A group were used as a reference [2,3,4]
Summary
Tomato and pepper are the main vegetable crops cultivated in open field in Bulgaria. Phytoplasma diseases, primarily stolbur, are important plant diseases for these crops in Bulgaria. During the period 2014-2017 years we analyzed the spreading of stolbur disease on tomato and pepper in vegetable growing areas in Southern Bulgaria. In some regions, located to the north of Maritza river, the losses of pepper yield caused by stolbur reached up to 75-100%, tomato losses - 65-75%. On the territory of Experimental field of Agricultural University in Plovdiv the symptoms of classical stolbur on tomato and pepper were observed. The goal of the present paper was to verify association of phytoplasmas with the observed disease symptoms in tomato and pepper and to identify the phytoplasmas detected using RFLP analysis of conserved genes and other uncharacterised phytoplasma chromosomal regions
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