Incidence and severity of mottle disease in black pepper plants (piper nigrum) in Sukamulya Research Station, Sukabumi Regency, West Java

Abstract

Abstract Mottle disease, caused by viral infection is one of the main disease in black pepper plants. Piper yellow mottle virus (PYMoV) and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) are recorded as the causal agent of mottle disease in several countries. Research was conducted at the Sukamulya Research Station, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, to observe disease incidence and identify the associated virus. Field observation and sampling was carried out on 50 black pepper plants, aged around 3-4 years. Virus detection was performed by PCR and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR using a primer pair that amplified the ORF III of PYMoV (AIB 104/AIB 105), and CMV coat protein (AIB 1/AIB 2), followed by sequencing and analysis of nucleotide sequences. Incidence and severity of mottle disease in Sukamulya reached 100% and 32.50%, respectively. Specific DNA target were successfully amplified, i.e. 400 bp and 650 bp for PYMoV and CMV, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that PYMoV isolate from Sukamulya is closely related with PYMoV isolates from India (DQ83623); while CMV isolate from Sukamulya is closely related with CMV isolates from Indonesian bananas (AB069971), and it is belonged to subgroup 1B, as did CMV from black pepper in India (AY545924).