Spread of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus in Sicily and Evaluation of the Spatiotemporal Dispersion in Experimental Conditions

• Main Authors: Stefano Panno, Andrea Giovanni Caruso, Stefano Barone, Giosuè Lo Bosco, Ezequiel A. Rangel, Salvatore Davino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
• Series: Agronomy
• Subjects: emerging pathogen; ToBRFV, epidemiology; dispersion
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/6/834

<i>Tomato brown rugose fruit virus</i> (ToBRFV) is an emerging pathogen that causes severe disease in tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i> L.) crops. The first ToBRFV outbreak in Italy occurred in 2018 in several Sicilian provinces, representing a serious threat for tomato production. In the present work, the spatiotemporal displacement of ToBRFV in Sicily was evaluated, analyzing a total of 590 lots of tomato seed, 982 lots of plantlets from nurseries and 100 commercial greenhouses. Furthermore, we investigated the ToBRFV spreading dynamic in a greenhouse under experimental conditions. Results showed several aspects related to ToBRFV dispersion in protected tomato crops. In detail, an important decrease of the ToBRFV-infected seed and plantlet lots was detected. Regarding the examined commercial greenhouses, ToBRFV still appears to be present in Sicily, although there has been a decrease during monitoring. In experimental conditions, it was demonstrated that the presence of few infected plants are sufficient to damage the entire crop in a short time, reaching almost 100% of infection.