Incidence of viruses and viroids in Polish hop gardens

Abstract

Viruses and viroids cause losses in hop production and are very difficult to eliminate, they spread easily and infected plants become a source of infection for other plants in the hop garden. Hop infected with viruses or viroids usually do not show any symptoms of disease, which makes it difficult to identify in-fected plants and prevents their elimination from the plantation. Monitoring is of utmost importance to detect and eradicate at an early stage first sources of infection with pathogens that have po-tentially catastrophic impacts on hop production. The aim of the study was determine the incidence of Hop latent virus (HpLV), Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV), Hop stunt viroid (HSVd), Apple fruit crinkle viroid (AFCVd) and Citrus bark cracking viroid(CBCVd) in Polish hop gardens. Hop leaves from commercial hop gardens and a propagation facility were tested by RT-PCR. On the basis of the obtained results, HpLV was found to occur in a few hop gardens in all regions of hop cultivation in Poland. HSVd was found in one hop garden and ArMV, AFCVd and CBCVd were not found in any of the tested samples. The results provided knowledge about these pathogens and will be useful in effective management of the risk of these dangerous diseases.