Incidence of viruses in cloves and bulbils of garlic ecotypes in Croatia

Abstract

In a survey on the sanitary status of garlic collection performed in 2016 at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism in Poreč (Croatia), 24 ecotypes and cultivars were tested by DAS-ELISA test for the presence of four main garlic viruses: Garlic common latent virus (GCLV), Shallot latent virus (SLV), Leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV) and Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV). The least frequent virus was SLV, whereas the most frequent was LYSV. In most ecotypes the infection of cloves was lower than infection of bulbils, while for SLV we found higher infection in cloves. Total virus infection of Istrian ecotypes was lower than infection of Dalmatian ones. Total incidence of viruses in Croatian garlic material ranged from 40.6% to 100.0%, depending on ecotype. In imported cultivar ‘Rose de Lautrec’ we found no infection with SLV. A high percentage of mixed infections in garlic cloves was also found and for double infections it ranged from 69% to 88%. Infection with all tested viruses was observed in 78% cloves. The most infected combination was double infections with potyviruses LYSV+OYDV. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of SLV infection in garlic in Croatia.