76

XVIII Conference of the IOCV

9. CURRENT STATUS OF CITRUS TRISTEZA CLOSTEROVIRUS IN PAKISTAN

Yasir Iftikhar1*, S. M. Mughal2, M. Mumtaz Khan3, M.J. Jaskani3, M. Abbas3, Asia Batool4, Z.
Hussain1 and M. A. Nawaz1
University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha;
Department of Plant Pathology, PMAS University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi;
3
Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Faisalabad;
4
Plant virology Section, Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad,
*
Corresponding authors e-mail: yasiriftihar@uos.edu.pk.
1
2

Fifty five citrus orchards in the Punjab and KPK (the former NWFP) the main citrus producing
provinces of Pakistan were surveyed for two consecutive years, 2007-2008 and incidence of
Citrus Tristeza Closterovirus (CTV) was monitored in commercial citrus species. More than
400 samples, consisting of leaves, twigs, stem and bark were collected from the CTV- infected
or suspected to be infected trees and analyzed by DAS-ELISA using polyclonal antibodies
(Adgen, No 1102). Based on ELISA positive reaction showing OD values at 405 nm of 0.2901.089 (X= 0.441), the overall infection of CTV ranged between 18-48% (X= 30.72%) in both the
provinces. In the Punjab, highest infection of 48% was recorded at Bhalwal, followed by Sahiwal,
Faisalabad and Sarghoda, whereas Mardan in NWFP registered 44% disease incidence. Among
the citrus species examined, sweet orange (cv. Blood Red Malta and Mosambi) showed 37%
infection, followed by sweet lime (33%), grape fruit (27%), mandarin cv Feutrell;s Early (26%)
and lemon (7%). Symptom expression and disease severity varied greatly in different citrus
species and orchards. These results confirm the previous findings that CTV is well established
and widely distributed in Pakistan with progressive trend of increase. The high incidence of CTV
is attributed to the existence of old citrus orchards serving as virus reservoir and indiscriminate
use of infected or uncertified bud wood for grafting in the nurseries. Variations in the symptom
expression suggest that more than one strain of CTV might be present in Pakistan. Citrus
brown aphid, Toxoptera citricida is not found y, but cotton apid, Aphis gossypii, is abundantly
occurring on potato, wheat and other host plants in winter and cotton crop at the end of summer.
Although it is reported to a less efficient vector, it could be regarded as a putative vector of CTV.
However, no substantial information is available on the vectorability of this aphid species, virusvector relationships, migration to citrus orchards if any, and influence of environmental factors,
therefore, these aspects constitute subject for future study on the natural transmission of CTV.

Citrus Research & Technology, Cordeirpolis, v.31, Suplemento, p.1-129, 2010