Occurrence of citrus viroids in Costa Rica

A survey for citrus viroids was conducted in the major citrus commercial growing areas in Costa Rica. Screening of 36 sweet orange and 12 lemon trees resulted in the detection of members of four of the five citrus viroid groups as determined by nucleic acid hybridization using specific RNA probes and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specific oligonucleotide primers. CEVd, CVd-IIa, CVD-IIb and CVd-III viroids were found to be widespread in the three main regions of commercial citrus production. CVd-Ib was only found in lemon in Nicoya.