Viruses, viroids and phytoplasmas reported to infect fruit trees in Syria : a review

الملخص EN

In Syria, like most Mediterranean countries, fruit trees industry is considered one of the most important sectors among all Syrian agriculture sectors.

many fruit tree species are grown in Syria since a long time and they are adapted to the local environmental conditions in the country which is a Mediterranean climate.

Syria is rich in growing many local varieties of fruit tree species which represent considerable and important genetic resources of fruit tree species all over the world.

as most plant species, fruit trees are affected by many biotic and abiotic disease stress factors.

among the biotic factors, viruses, viroids and phytoplasmas are among the most important factors which can cause serious diseases on several fruit tree species.

since the early 1980s, many virus, viroid and phytoplasma diseases were investigated and reported on many fruit tree species grown in Syria such as olive, stone fruits, grapevine, pome fruits, citrus, fig, walnut and pecan.

many surveys were previously conducted to evaluate the sanitary status of these fruit tree species focusing on the occurrence of these pathogens in Syria.

assessment of the sanitary status of these fruit trees, and detection of those pathogens was carried out using the appropriate and available detection methods such as biological, serological and molecular techniques.