Abstract
A study was conducted to evaluate the reaction of two local and seven exotic pepper cultivars to four viral diseases in the coastal savanna zone of Ghana. The objective was to evaluate the response of the pepper cultivars to the viruses under natural field conditions. The plants were assessed for symptom severity as well as disease incidence. Symptom expression varied among the cultivars, with severity ranging from 0.5% at 4 Weeks after Transplanting (WAT) to 47.2% at 14 WAT. Disease incidence also varied significantly among the cultivars and ranged from 1.1% at 4 WAT to 61.3% at 14 WAT. Enzyme-Linked Immune Sorbent Assay (ELISA) was performed against PVMV, TMV, CMV and PMMV for each cultivar. The test showed the presence of all four viruses in the leaf extracts, with each cultivar infected by at least one of the four viruses. PVMV and CMV were the predominant viruses identified. Mixed infections of two or more viruses were observed in all the cultivars. TMV was detected in all cultivars except the two hybrids, Sunny F<sub>1</sub> and Forever F<sub>1</sub>, while PMMV was detected in only cv. Legon 18 which had a mixed infection of all four viruses.
Highlights
Pepper belongs to the genus Capsicum and family Solanaceae (Ochoa-Alejo and Ramírez-Malagón, 2001)
Source of seeds: Seeds of the exotic varieties used for the study namely, California Wonder (CW), Big Sun (BS), Archard (AR), Bombadier (BO), Forever F1 (FF), Sunny F1 (SF) and Antillas (AT) were obtained from Technisem, Accra
The Enzyme-Linked Immune Sorbent Assay (ELISA) kits used for the virus detection were obtained from DSMZ Plant Virus Collection, Braunchweig, Germany
Summary
Pepper belongs to the genus Capsicum and family Solanaceae (Ochoa-Alejo and Ramírez-Malagón, 2001). It is an indispensable ingredient for food preparation throughout the world (Green and Kim, 1991) and is utilized in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and poultry industries (Jin et al, 2009). In Ghana, pepper is widely produced for both local consumption and export to the European market. The most important of them include Pepper Veinal Mottle Virus (PVMV) and Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV). Some viruses, Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) and the leaf curl virus complex, continue to pose a challenge to breeding programmes (Green and Kim, 1994)
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