Many grapevine cultivars are grown in Croatia, most of which are considered to be autochthonous. Mass positive selection together with sanitary selection of 15 economically important cultivars was initiated. To this aim, visual observations were made for the presence of virus-induced symptoms. Samples of dormant canes were collected from vines with positive agronomic traits and no visible symptoms of virus infection. The presence of four economically important viruses was evaluated using ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay): two nepoviruses, Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) and Arabis mosaic virus (ArMV) and two closteroviruses Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 1 (GLRaV-1) and Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3). The Survey of virus diseases in commercial vineyards of different vinegrowing regions of Croatia disclosed a widespread presence of viruses and a low occurrence of non-infected vines. Th is is true especially for the coastal region where not a single healthy plant could be found for certain cultivars. Although no visible symptoms were observed, it was not rare to detect multiple infections by two or even three viruses. The most widespread virus in Dalmatia was GFLaV- 3 with approximately 80 % of vines infected. In the northern regions almost half of the analysed plants were negative in ELISA and the most represented virus was GLRaV-1. The presence of both nepoviruses is rather low, especially ArMV (only 1 % of vines infected).

V. vinifera L.; native grapevine cultivars; sanitary selection; viruses

Published by University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb, CROATIA
Sponsored by Ministry Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia