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Submitted to: Viroids and Plant Viral Satellites
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 8/28/2016 Publication Date: 8/9/2017 Citation: Hammond, R. 2017. Economic significance of Viroids in vegetable and fruit crops (Book Chapter). In: Hadidi, A., editor. Viroids and Plant Viral Satellites. 1st edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. p. 5-13. Interpretive Summary: Viroids are low molecular weight nucleic acid molecules that cause disease in certain higher plant species, including important agricultural vegetable and field crops worldwide. The economic threat of viroid infection in crop plants is a reflection of the symptoms that they cause in their host that may affect crop quality and/or yield, their mode of transmission to the same or next generation, their distribution and ability to cause an epidemic, and the threat to the industry. In this chapter, the potential of viroids to cause significant losses is discussed in the context of environmental factors and host susceptibility and it will be of interest to plant pathologists and the vegetable and field crop industries. Technical Abstract: Crop losses due to viroid infection occur in vegetable and field crops worldwide. In addition to potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), several viroids in the family Pospiviroidae infect these crops and economic losses range from minimal to severe depending upon the viroid/host combination, the host cultivar, and the viroid strain. In this chapter, the impact of viroids in potato, tomato, cucumber, hop, eggplant, pepino, and sweet pepper crops is summarized for each vegetable or field crop host and is followed by potential means of control to reduce losses caused by viroids. |
