Occurrence of Phytoplasmas of the Apple Proliferation Group in Fruit Trees in Kyustendil Region of Bulgaria

A. BORISOVA1 and I. KAMENOVA2
1 Agricultural Academy, Institute of Agriculture – Kyustendil, BG-2500 Kyustendil, Bulgaria
2 Agricultural Academy, Agrobioinstitute, BG-1164 Sofi a, Bulgaria

Abstract

BORISOVA, A. and I. KAMENOVA, 2016. Occurrence of phytoplasmas of the apple proliferation group in fruit trees in Kyustendil region of Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 465–469

Apple, pear and plum trees showing symptoms typical for apple proliferation, pear decline and European stone fruit yellow from Kyustendil region of Bulgaria were analyzed for phytoplasma infection by polymerase chain reaction technology. PCR was performed by the use of specifi c for Apple proliferation group set (Loewe Phytodiagnostica, Germany) and the protocol recommended by the manufacturers. The results obtained showed the presence of phytoplasmas in 85.0% and 62.0% tested apple and pear trees, respectively and in all tested plum trees. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis revealed that apple and pear were infected with apple proliferation and pear decline phytoplasmas, respectively, while European stone fruit yellows was detected in plum trees. Because many trees showed symptoms like those of sampled and analyzed trees, this preliminary assay suggest a high incidence of phytoplasmas from AP group in the surveyed region of the country.

Key words: fruit trees, phytoplasmas, AP, PD, ESFY, detection, PCR, symptoms

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