Potential Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Vectors of Plum-pox Virus (Virus:Potyviridae) and Status of Sharka Disease in Stone Fruit Orchards in the East Mediterranean Region of Turkey

This study was conducted in stone fruit orchards in five provinces of the East Mediterranean Region of Turkey between the years of 2009-2011. The aim of the study was to determine the potential aphid vectors of the quarantine pathogen PPV (plum pox virus, family Potyviridae) that causes serious yield losses. During the surveys, 542 orchard/nurseries were sampled and 6 aphid species (Hemiptera: Aphididae) [ Brachycaudus persicae (Passerini,1860), B. helichrysi (Kaltenbach, 1843), B. cardui (Linnaeus, 1758), Hyalopterus pruni (Geoffroy, 1762), Myzus persicae (Sulzer, 1776) and M.cerasi (Fabricius, 1775)] from stone fruit trees and 4 aphid species [Aphis craccivora (Koch, 1854), A. fabae Scopoli 1763, A. gossypii Glover 1877, A. nasturtii Kaltenbach 1843)] from weeds that were known as the efficient vectors of PPV were detected in the stone fruit orchards. Stone fruit samples (flower, leaf, fruit), weed samples and aphid samples were tested by DAS-ELISA to determine the presence of PPV. PPV infected samples that resulted uncertain from DAS-ELISA were processed to conventional RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) to finalize the decision of PPV presence. A total of 8 orchards were resulted as PPV-infected with both analyzing methods in the region. Three of these orchards were infected with aphids as well. B.cardui collected from the PPV-infected orchard in Hatay-Samandag were also run to analyse for the presence of PPV and resulted virus positive.