Viral diseases

Diseases due to plant viruses cause enormous losses in both agriculture and horticulture. In tissue culture it is especially important to work with 'virus free' material, as micro-propagation from virally infected explants could lead to millions of diseased plants. However, the term 'virus free' is abused. ‘Virus free’ does not exist and only ‘virus tested’ plants can be produced, after indexing for one specific virus.

A way to eliminate viral infection in tissue culture is to use meristem culture.

In order to eliminate viral infection it is necessary to know which viruses plant material is infected with. Viruses are divided into 35 families or groups. Over 700 viruses are known.