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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #217318
Title: Blueberry Fruit Drop

Author
item MARTIN, ROBERT
item TZANETAKIS, I - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Compendium on Blueberry and Cranberry Diseases
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2008
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Blueberry fruit drop is the name given to a new disease of blueberry that has been observed during the past few years in several blueberry fields in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Canada and recently in New York state. The plants flower normally, though the young leaves and flowers have a transient red coloration that is absent in healthy plants. The fruit develops to 3-5 mm in diameter and then aborts so that affected bushes mature virtually no fruit. The incidence within fields increases year to year, suggesting that a pathogen is involved. Virus purification and mechanical transmissions to herbaceous hosts has been unsuccessful. Double-stranded RNA of approximately 3500 bp was obtained from blueberries in British Columbia, Canada that exhibited a near 100% fruit drop. The complete sequence of the virus has been obtained and it appears to lack a movement protein. It is most closely related to a dsRNA purified from tomato exhibiting yellow stunt symptoms in Mexico. These viruses are most closely related to the Totiviridae family of viruses that infect fungi and protozoa. It is not yet clear that this virus is the causal agent of the disease, if it is part of a virus complex that causes the disease or if it is any way related to the disease.