Recovery of Cranberry Plants Infected With Tobacco streak virus and Incidence and Distribution of TSV in the Field

Abstract

Tobacco streak virus (TSV) has been detected in cranberry plants in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, and is associated with berry scarring symptoms. In the current study, cv. Mullica Queen plants that produced scarred, symptomatic, TSV-positive fruit in one year produced nonscarred, asymptomatic, TSV-positive fruit in subsequent years, consistent with the “recovery” phenomenon previously documented in other ilarvirus-woody plant interactions. In field trials, fruit set and berry weight were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in symptomatic, TSV-positive cranberry shoots but not in recovered, TSV-positive shoots compared with healthy, TSV-negative shoots. Likewise, return bloom in the first year following berry scarring was not negatively impacted in recovered shoots. Detection of TSV in various plant parts throughout the growing season was more variable in symptomatic shoots than in recovered shoots. Of all plant parts tested, TSV detection was lowest in berries at the time of harvest in both symptomatic and recovered shoots. Minimal increases in incidence of TSV-infected shoots in cranberry beds from one year to the next, and spatial autocorrelation of TSV-infected shoots, suggest that most new infections result from TSV spreading within a bed, rather than frequent introductions of the virus from external sources.