Abstracto

Occurrence and prevalence of four viruses infecting tomatoes in Northern districts of West Bank, Palestinian territories

Hazem Sawalha

Studying tomato viruses during 2003/2004 using immunosorbent assays revealed that tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) was the most dominant disease infecting tomato plants in the northern districts of theWest Bank particularly Jenin and Tobas as its incidence ranged from28-93%. Themaximumdisease incidence of 90-93%was recorded inAl-FarÂ’a region of Tobas district. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was the second most prevalent virus of tomato in the studied regions as its incidence ranged from15-51%. Tomato infection with tomato mosaic virus (TMV) and potato virus Y (PVY) was considered insignificant as these viruses were detected in very few tomato samples.