Yellow leaf curl and other virus diseases of tomato in Cyprus

Outdoor and greenhouse tomato plantings in the main production centres of Cyprus were surveyed for virus diseases during 1978–1982. A disease characterized by prominent leaf yellowing and curling was the most prevalent and damaging. The causal agent was identified as tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) because it infected Datura stramonium but not the tobacco cultivars Havana 423 or Virginia, was graft-transmissible but not mechanically or seed-transmissible, and was transmitted persistently by the tobacco whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Minimum acquisition and inoculation feeding periods were 20–30 and 10–20 min. respectively; the latent period was 21–24 h. The vector was infective for about 12 days, but there was no transovarial transmission to progeny.
Four other, mechanically transmissible, viruses were also isolated from tomato and identified on the basis of symptomatology, indicator host reactions and serology; tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), potato virus Y (PVY). potato virus X (PVX), and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). These viruses, especially TMV, were commonly associated with mosaic symptoms and occasionally with other leaf or fruit disorders; coinfection with TYLCV occurred frequently.