TOMATO YELLOW LEAFCURL VIRUS (TYLCV) DISEASE IN GHANA

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a major tomato virus in Ghana and Africa as a whole. In this study, 30 accessions of Solanum lycopersicum L. with reported TYLCV- resistance from AVRDC were assessed for resistance to TYLCV in Ghana. Plants were grown in a field, a hot spot of the disease and the reactions of plants were evaluated based on the disease symptoms when they were 30, 45 and 60 days after transplanting. Molecular screening was also done to re-confirm the phenotypic evaluation. All the tomato accessions demonstrated various degrees of disease symptoms. Phenotypic evaluation was confirmed by amplification of TYLCV DNA fragment in all tested accessions. Based on both the phenotypic and molecular evaluations, no accession provided complete resistance to TYLCV in Ghana. However accessions with milder symptoms of TYLCV in the field but no viral DNA were assessed as tolerant.