Virus Diseases of Tropical Vegetable Crops and Their Management

Abstract

Viruses have long been known to be prevalent in plants in tropical and sub-tropical developing countries, particularly in staple crops such as cassava, rice, coconut and pulses. The need to address a wider range of vegetable crops was identified by the IPM-Innovation Lab. To meet these needs, a team of virologists was organized to work across countries and regions with IPM specialists to document virus disease problems in priority crops; mainly tomato and peppers, melons and various gourds and cucurbits, locally preferred vegetables such as eggplant (brinjal), okra (bhendi) and yardlong bean, and fruits (passion fruit, tree tomato). These crops constitute important sources of income and food sources, for many farmers, and were observed to be infected by a wide diversity of viruses. Demands for increased production, increased uniformity of vegetables grown for domestic and export markets, changes in production practices leading to scale up of production of seeds and seedlings, changes related to intensification and global climate change, and greater crop uniformity across regions, appear to be associated with crop losses due to viruses. This chapter summarizes more than two decades of research results to identify problems, and describes progress to enhance local capacity for in-country diagnosis and implementation of integrated disease management practices.