Natural Spread of Plum Pox Virus in Ankara, Turkey

Plum pox virus (PPV) has a limited distribution in Turkey, so is not a serious problem for stone fruit production. However, it is widespread in apricot, plum and peach trees in the Ankara region where its natural spread was studied between 1995 and 2002 in 10 home gardens planted with apricot, plum and peach trees. The presence of the virus was determined by visual observation of symptoms in leaves and fruits and by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA); strains were identified by double antibody sandwich indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DASI-ELISA) and immunocapture reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (IC-RT-PCR) tests. Within 8 years, PPV incidence in the gardens near to, and 0.5 km from an infection source was 85.7–100 and 25–29.4%, respectively. This difference in incidence was attributed to the distance from the infection source. All PPV isolates were identified as PPV-M. It was found that sharka disease was introduced to the healthy gardens by mealy plum aphids (Hyalopterus pruni), the only vector of PPV found in Ankara. This is the first report of PPV spread in Turkey