Virus diseases limiting greenhouses and open field production of cucurbits in Antalya province

Abstract

The Mediterranean region in Türkiye is noted for the production of cucurbits and other vegetables. As such, the aim of this study was to sample symptomatic cucurbits crops from open fields and greenhouses where there is active cultivation of these crops. Young shoot, leaves, and fruits exhibiting virus-like symptoms (yellowing, mosaic, necrotic) were collected. Out of 968 plant samples collected and tested through RT-PCR and PCR, 949 were discovered to be infected with several viruses. The identified virus diseases included ZYMV, WMV, PRSV, SqMV, CGMV, CYSDV, BPYV, CABYV, ToLCNDV and CMV. In terms of hosts exhibiting a high incidence of virus infections, cucumber (363 samples), squash (277 samples), melon (201 samples), and watermelon (108 samples) emerged as the top four hosts. Additionally, viruses with notable high incidences in the collected samples, as recorded through molecular testing in decreasing order included ZYMV at 28.1%, CYSDV at 15.5%, and WMV at 14.4%. Also, 90% of samples collected from open fields had single or multiple infection. In contrast, 26.4% of samples from greenhouses exhibited mosaic symptoms and 74.6% showed yellowing symptoms. Notably, MNSV and BPYV, were detected in these samples. The samples also exhibiting mixed infections predominantly displayed mosaic symptoms, including mixed infections such as ZYMV with WMV, ZYMV with CMV, CMV with WMV, and CMV with PRSV. In contrast, samples obtained from open fields showed a higher prevalence of yellowing symptoms, such as ToLCNDV with CMV, ToLCNDV with ZYMV, ZYMV with CMV with CYSDV, and ZYMV with CMV with CVYV.