High prevalence of poleroviruses in field-grown pepper in Turkey and Tunisia

Open-field pepper crops were sampled in 2011 in Turkey and Tunisia and surveyed for the major pepper-infecting viruses. As expected, potato virus Y and cucumber mosaic virus (in both countries), and tobacco etch virus (in Turkey only) were quite frequent. However, poleroviruses were the most common viruses, with prevalences above 70 %. Partial sequence analyses revealed the occurrence of poleroviruses resembling either beet western yellows virus (BWYV) or pepper vein yellows virus in the sampled areas, with BWYV being predominant in Turkey but in the minority in Tunisia. Poleroviruses should therefore be taken into account in disease control of pepper crops in the Mediterranean area.