VIRUS SYMPTOMS OBSERVED IN 'VIRGINIA CRAB' APPLE TREES INOCULATED WITH 'VERDEDONCELLA'

The apple variety 'Verdedoncella' is one of the most important among those grown in the Jalon Valley (Zaragoza). In that region this variety has traditionally been grafted on seedling rootstocks.

To determine the virus disease conditions of this variety 10 orchards having trees 10 – 15 years of age were chosen in different areas of the Valley.

By means of indexings carried out in a nursery, some symptoms were discovered which indicated a possible presence, among other latent virus, of stem pitting and stem grooving together or separately. From the 10 indexed origins, 4 showed symptoms of both, stem pitting and stem grooving, 3 only stem grooving.