Identification of virus-free ginger germplasm accessions through symptomatology and molecular assay

Abstract

Plant genetic resources hold the key for evolving improved varieties with superior desirable traits especially resistance towards biotic factors which equip them thrive under challenging adverse conditions. In the present study, 255 ginger germplasm accessions representing varied agro-climatic regions pan India were screened for ginger chlorotic fleck-associated virus 1 (GCFaV-1) and ginger chlorotic fleck-associated virus 2 (GCFaV-2) consecutively for 4 years based on symptomatology. Based on symptom expression pattern, 80 accessions were grouped under apparently healthy, while 82, 53 and 40 accessions were placed under mild, moderate and severe categories, respectively. The asymptomatic apparently healthy accessions were subsequently examined with real-time RT-PCR of which, 34 accessions were found free from both the viruses. The virus-free accessions identified in the present study can be subjected to subsequent evaluation under artificial inoculation conditions for resistance, beneficial agronomic traits and quality parameters