VIRUS INFECTIONS IN STONE FRUIT TREES FROM DIFFERENT PROVINCES OF TURKEY

Field inspections and sample collections from peach, nectarine, apricot and plum trees were carried out in commercial orchards and mother blocks, which are also cultivar collections belonging to Ministry of Agriculture of Turkey, during early spring in 2000 and 2002. Samples (shoots with leaves) were collected from symptomatic plants in the orchards of Adana, Afyon, Ankara, Amasya, Burdur, Bursa, Çanakkale, Hatay, Isparta, Izmir, Tokat and Yalova provinces. Plant samples were tested for the presence of Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV), Plum pox virus (PPV) and Prunus necrotic ring spot virus (PNRSV) by using RT- PCR and tested by DAS-ELISA for Apple mosaic virus (ApMV) and Prune dwarf virus (PDV). The results revealed that 60 out of 240 plant samples were infected with one or more viruses. The most common virus was ACLSV with the infection rate of 22.87%. ACLSV was followed by PNRSV and PDV with the infection rates of 17.08% and 2.08%, respectively. Mixed infections of ACLSV+PNRSV (6 samples), ACLSV+PPV (9 samples), ACLSV+PPV+PNRSV (2 samples) and ACLSV+PNRSV+PDV (1 sample) were also detected. No infections with ApMV were determined from the peach, nectarine, apricot and plum tree samples collected from the provinces.