Virus infection of ornamental plants in Hungary

Abstract

Recently the economic importance of the ornamental plant production has shown remarkable growth. Following the country's joint to the EU increased competition has become characteristic of the Hungarian market. More than 20 viruses have been isolated in the various vegetatively propagated Petunia species and varieties [Richert (1992), Lesemann and Dalchow (1995), Bellardi et al. (1996), Mavric et al. (1996) Salamon (1996), Richert-POggeler and Shepherd (1997), Feldhof et al. (1998), Boonham et al. (1999), Alexandre et al. (2000)]. Metelik et al. (1994, 1996), Mokrd and Gfitzovd (1994), Lesemann and Winter (2002) as well as Pham et al., (2002) examined the health condition of Zanthedeschia aetiopica and other Zanthedeschia species. The presence of Bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV), Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Konjac mosaic virus (KoMV) and Tomato spotted wilt vims (TSVW) were detected. Hosta virus X (HVX) and Impatiens necrotic spot vims (INSV) were isolated in the examined Hosta species (Lockhart 2002). Lockhart et al. (2002) verified the presence of Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) in Heuchera samples and that of Alfalfa mosaic vims (AIMV) in Pulmonaria species. The goal of our work was to make a virological survey of herbaceous ornamental plants in Hungary.