Co-Authors:
Salomon, R., Departments of Virology and Fruit Trees, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Mawassi, M., Departments of Virology and Fruit Trees, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Flaishman, M.A., Departments of Virology and Fruit Trees, ARO, Volcani Center, P.O.B. 6, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel
Abstract:
Fig trees all around the world exhibit mosaic symptoms (FM) on their leaves in very varied severity ranged from mild mosaic appearance to small mutilated leaves. Fig trees are propagated vegetatively from cuttings and therefore bear the mosaic producing agent(s) harbored by the parent trees. FM causes development of bright mosaic areas, small and sometime mutilated leaves which have a marked effect on the size of the fruit and may delay ripening. To avoid such damage to the crop, FM-free fig trees should be developed. The first step toward elimination FM is identification of the etiological agent(s) causing the disease. Here we report partial isolation of a viral agent from mosaic patches on leaves of figs grown in Israel and early steps of developing sensitive detection methods for this virus.