PPV susceptibility of commonly used peach rootstock-scion combinations

Sharka disease is one of the most devastating plant epidemics of Prunus species, caused by plum pox virus (PPV). The viral infection affects the fruits by weight-loss and degradation of quality properties. Breeding of resistant rootstocks and cultivars is one of the most effective disease control methods. PPV determines the peach production all over the world. On the world's fruit production list peach is in the sixth, in the Mediterranean region in the fourth place. In this study new data were shown about PPV susceptibility of commonly used rootstock-scion combinations from Hungary. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) analysis was conducted on the samples from a commercial orchard; the results were evaluated by chi-square test and binary logistic regression. Four rootstock ('GF677', 'PeMa', 'Cadaman' and almond seedlings) and three scion cultivars (Prunus persicae 'Michelini', 'Babygold 6' and 'Cresthaven') were included in this experiment. The rootstocks did not show any significant differences in regard to the resistance of the virus infection (40-50%), but in case of scions, strong significant relations were observed. In case of the combinations there were results in both directions; tolerant and susceptible combinations were observed as well.