Thursday, July 2, 2015

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Confirmed

A tomato plant exhibiting yellow, deformity and stunting caused by a virus.
Tomato infected with
TSWV (Photo: NMSU-PDC)

Tomato and chile pepper growers should be on the lookout for a potentially significant viral disease called Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV). This virus was recently identified in the NMSU Plant Diagnostic Clinic on chile pepper samples from across the state. This virus is commonly identified in New Mexico. It has a wide host range that includes vegetable crops, ornamentals and weeds and it is transmitted by thrips which is a common insect pest. TSWV is an important disease of many different crops grown in temperate and subtropical regions of the world. It is a unique virus in a virus class by itself. The virus has a wide host range, but some of the more common hosts for New Mexico are tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, peanuts, lettuce, cucurbits, many legumes, many ornamentals, and weeds such as field bindweed, nightshade, and curly dock. This disease is especially damaging in the ornamental and vegetable greenhouse industry.


A pepper leaf with concentric yellow ringspots.
TSWV on a pepper leaf
(Photo: NMSU-PDC)
A yellow tomato leaf with brown spots on it.
TSWV on tomato leaf (Photo: NMSU-PDC)


A composite photo of fruit infected with virus. The photo on the left is a tomato exhibiting uneven ripening (yellow and red areas intermingled) and the photo on the right is a chile pepper with green and red coloring.
TSWV symptoms on tomato and pepper fruit
(Photo: NMSU-PDC)

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