New plant disease record in New Zealand: Dasheen mosaic potyvirus infecting taro (Colocasia esculentaSchott)

Abstract

A feathery mottle pattern, typical of dasheen mosaic virus infection, was observed on the leaves of one Japanese and two traditional New Zealand cultivars of taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott) grown in the Auckland area of New Zealand. Electron microscopy and serological testing confirmed the presence of dasheen mosaic virus.

A Review on Viruses Infecting Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott)

“…Taro plants that were infected with DsMV have the typical feather mottle symptoms with conspicuous mosaic patterns—yellow, whitish patterns against the green; pale green against dark green—and sometimes malformation and dwarfing of the leaves (Figure 2) [6,31]. Since the majority of cultivated taro are vegetatively propagated, they indefinitely carry the virus once they have been infected [20,30].…”

“…Since the majority of cultivated taro are vegetatively propagated, they indefinitely carry the virus once they have been infected [20,30]. DsMV has been presumed to be present wherever cultivation of taro occurs, as it has been found in many countries where the crop is grown [6,30,33,36,37,38]. Multiple publications on DsMV-taro have not only allowed for genome characterisations, diagnostics assays, and symptomatology to be investigated, but has also led to the potential development of DsMV-free taro cultivars through thermotherapy and tissue culture [20,31].…”

“…Taro ( Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a perennial root crop from the family Araceae (common name: Aroids) with substantial socio-economic importance in tropical and sub-tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and the Pacific Island countries [1,2,3]. Aside from its edible corms, this crop has significant cultural value for its communities [4,5,6,7]. Taro has been found globally in various regions and countries, including but not limited to, Hawaii, the Caribbean, American Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Southern Africa, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Australia, with local common names, such as dasheen, kalo, talo, and keladi [3,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15].…”

“…The plant has also been described as invasive species in some parts of these regions [3]. Local cultivation—almost exclusively through vegetative propagation—is often preferred, since it is much less expensive than imports [6]. As such, taro cultivation is an important aspect of the economy, although many viruses and diseases affect the crop [16].…”

“…Taro viruses, which could lead to diseases, damage the crop yield and sometimes lead to plant death [17]. Multiple viruses have been found to infect taro, including the four main viruses; Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV) , Taro bacilliform virus (TaBV) , Colocasia bobone disease virus (CBDV) , and Taro vein chlorosis virus (TaVCV) [5,6,8,9,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26] that this review will centre on. This review will also mention a relatively new virus Taro bacilliform CH virus (TaBCHV) [17,19,27].…”