Abstract
This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of viruses, viz Banana streak Obino l’ewai virus (BSOLV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Banana mild mosaic virus (BanMMV) and Banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV) causing serious diseases on plantain in Cote d'Ivoire. From April 2010 to July 2010 and June 2011 to August 2011, 103 farmers' plots located in 13 important plantain productions regions were screened. In all, 424 samples having symptoms of yellow or moderate chlorotic streaks were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-PCR and by immunocapture-PCR. Viruses identified were BSOLV, BanMMV and CMV respectively in proportions of 78%, 63% and 5.4% of the samples analyzed. Mixed infections of these three viruses were found in the 13 regions while CMV was present only in 3 regions. None of the samples collected were infected by BBrMV. Infected suckers used by farmers to establish their banana field could be the cause of these viral infections. The results showed that 9% of symptomatic samples were not associated with the presence of one or the other of the viruses studied. Further study is required to identify reported viruses in banana and plantain across the world.
Key words: Plantain, farming modes, viruses, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunocapture polymerase chain reaction (IC-PCR), Cote d’Ivoire.
