Symptomless infection by strawberry virus 1 (StrV‐1) leads to losses in strawberry yields

Abstract

AbstractHigh‐throughput sequencing has opened up possibilities of detecting new plant pathogens, especially viruses, with relative ease. However, information about biological characteristics and relevance to plant production is usually lacking. Recently, a new strawberry cytorhabdovirus named strawberry virus 1 (StrV‐1) was described and characterized at a molecular level. The virus can be transmitted by aphids and is commonly found in commercial plantations. Here, we studied the impact of a sole StrV‐1 infection on production in two strawberry cultivars—Darselect and Karmen. All plants infected with StrV‐1 remained symptomless during the experiment. In general, Darselect was more resilient to StrV‐1 infection, and the average yield per plant was nonsignificantly lowered by 11.7% over the 2‐year experiment. In contrast, StrV‐1 infection in cultivar Karmen led to a significant yield loss of 31.8%, indicating that the genetic background plays a role. While the average fruit weight and diameter were relatively unaffected, lower yields in infected plants stemmed from a significantly reduced number of inflorescences, by 23.6% and 29.6% in Darselect and Karmen, respectively, which resulted in a reduction in the average number of flowers per plant (decreased by 16.5% and 27.3%, respectively), and hence the number of fruits per plant (by 14.5% and 27.6%, respectively). The StrV‐1 load was higher in spring than in autumn, and generally higher in the second year after infection, which corresponded to higher losses in the second harvest, especially in cultivar Karmen.