Phytoplasma diseases of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in central Serbia

The symptoms of stunding, phylody, yellowing and reddening of alfalfa were observed for the first time in the four localities in Central Serbia: Tuleš, Sićevo, Ljubava and Belanovice, during 2008. Annual index of infection increase was between 2-6, while the reduction of the green mass was between 30-50%. Application of RFLP and sequence analysis 16S rDNA identified the presence of the phytoplasm in the samples of alfalfa belonging to 16SrIII-B and 16SrXII-A groups. Solbur type phytoplasm was the dominant type found in the 80% of plants exhibiting the symptoms. Simptomi kržljavosti, proliferacije, filodija, žutila i crvenila lucerke uočeni su prvi put u četiri lokaliteta u Centralnoj Srbiji (Tuleš, Sićevo, Ljubava i Belanovice) tokom 2008 godine. Godišnji indeks porasta zaraze kretao se od 2 do 6, a smanjenje prinosa zelene mase između 30-50%. Primenom RFLP i analize sekvenci 16S rDNK, identifikovano je prisustvo fitoplazmi u uzorcima lucerke koje pripadaju 16SrIII-B i 16SrXII-A grupama. Fitoplazma Stolbur tipa bila je dominantna i dokazana je u 80% uzoraka simptomatičnih biljaka.