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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #317804

Title: Plum orchards can remain Plum pox virus free for the life of the orchard

Author
item POLAK, JAROSLAV - Crop Research Institute - Czech Republic
item Scorza, Ralph

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/28/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Plum pox virus (PPV), the cause of sharka disease, is a quarantine virus pathogen that can cause devastating losses mainly to plum. Estimated costs associated with sharka management worldwide in the last 30 years exceeded 10 billion Euros. To prevent the spread of PPV, we suggest three requirements: 1) the use of PPV-free planting material; 2) plum cultivars resistant to PPV either through conventional breeding or biotech approaches (genetic engineering); and 3) PPV resistant rootstocks. We have developed both a PPV resistant transgenic plum cultivar ‘HoneySweet’, and we have identified and developed propagation strategies for a PPV resistant rootstock, myrobalan ‘PK’. We suggest that the GM plum ´HoneySweet´ grafted on myrobalan ´PK´ rootstock can be grown PPV-free for the entire tree life. This strategy, both with the present genetic material and future resistant material to be developed, has the possibility for allowing plum trees to remain PPV-free for their normal life-time despite the presence of PPV infected trees in the vicinity.