Incidence and Distribution of Important Viral Pathogens in Some Iranian Potato Fields

From a total of 8,135 potato leaves collected from 132 fields in 11 provinces of Iran, the incidence and distribution of Alfalfa mosaic virus (AlMV), Eggplant mottled dwarf virus (EMDV), Potato leafroll virus (PLRV), Potato virus A (PVA), Potato virus M (PVM), Potato virus S(PVS), Potato virus X (PVX), Potato virus Y (PVY), and Tomato yellow fruit ring virus (TYFRV) were assessed using serological and biological methods. Based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) results, viruses in decreasing order of incidence in potato were PVS (35.9%), PVY (34.4%), PVA (27.0%), PVX (20.8%), PLRV (13.9%), PVM (9.0%), AlMV (7.0%), TYFRV (5.9%), and EMDV (5.1%). All 132 fields surveyed had some degree of virus infection, ranging from 28.8 to 98.6%, with an overall incidence of 75.2%. The highest and lowest incidence of virus infections among the surveyed provinces occurred in Kerman (93.2%) and Ardabil (56.7%), respectively. Overall, 25.0 and 50.2% of the collected potato samples had single or mixed infections, respectively. High levels of mixed infections were found between PVX and PVS (8.6%), and PVX and PVY (7.6%). Moreover, co-infection of samples with PVS and PVY, PVA and PVS, and PVA and PVY, the aphid-vectored virus/virus combinations, occurred at the highest incidence in almost all provinces surveyed, 15.3, 13.8, and 12.8%, respectively. In this study, Beet curly top virus was detected in symptomatic potato samples collected from some fields in the Kermanshah province.