PLUM POX AND PLUM ASSORTMENT IN THE REGION OF THE CENTRAL BALKAN MOUNTAINS

The first information about infected single trees by the plum pox virus in the region of the Central Balkan Mountains dates from 1935-1936, but its large-scale spread occurred mainly in the 1970’s due to infected planting material.
As at that time the major cultivar was the highly susceptible cultivar ‘Kyustendilska Sinya Sliva’ to plum pox, its replacement by the plum pox tolerant cultivar ‘Stanley’ began and at present the latter is the major cultivar for the region.
With the purpose of enlarging the assortment, IMSA in Troyan has studied local and introduced cultivars for over 30 years, the major criterion of their assessment being their behaviour towards the plum pox virus.
The following was determined: spread of the plum pox virus in the region on cultivated and wild hosts of Prunus genus, the rate of infection and spread of virus in the plantations, the expression of the disease and damages in different cultivars.
On the basis of these studies, cultivars of the group of common plum P. Domestica are offered for future enlargement of the assortment, such as: Without symptoms – ‘N. Mirabella’; Resistant – ‘Jojo’; Highly tolerant – ‘Stanley’, ‘C. Najbolja’; Tolerant – ‘C. Lepotica’, ‘Hanita’, ‘Tegera’; With field resistance – ‘Gabrovska’; Lower susceptible – ‘Valevka’, ‘C. Rodna’, ‘Tuleu Gras’, ‘Tuleu Timpuriu’; Susceptible, but with good economic qualities – ‘Elena’. It was recorded that the use of virus-free planting material and proper regionalization of the cultivars, according to natural infection sources, contributed to limit the spread of the plum pox virus and to decrease the damages caused by it.

I Balkan Symposium on Fruit Growing

K. Dragoyski, H. Dinkova, B. Mihovska, B. Stefanova, I. Kamenova

plum, plum pox virus, strain diversity, cultivars

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.825.25