REGULATORY SERVICES
Plant Pathology |
Diseases of regulatory concern |
Plum pox virus
Plum pox is a viral disease caused by the plum pox virus (PPV), which can infect most ornamental and agriculturally significant species in the genus Prunus,including fruit trees such as plums, peaches, and apricots. Ornamental species of Prunus may show few symptoms of plum pox virus but can be carriers of PPV. In commercial stone fruit orchards the disease blemishes fruit, reduces yield and quality, and is considered the most devastating disease of stone fruit in Europe.
The disease was first described in Bulgaria in the early 1900s and has since spread throughout Europe. PPV was first reported in North America in Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1999 and in Ontario and Nova Scotia in 2000. In the U.S., control efforts were thought to have eradicated the disease, but during 2006 surveys, the virus was found again on commercial plums and peaches in Niagara County, New York, on commercial peaches in Pennsylvania, and in a plum research plot in southwestern Michigan. Additional surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 have since detected PPV in three New York counties and 9 additional properties in Ontario, all within the greater Niagara region. In 2010 VDACS sampled 2,000 trees state wide for PPV. PPV has not been detected in Virginia.