Growth and yield responses of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars to infections with cucumber mosaic virus disease

Abstract

A screenhouse study was conducted to determine the effects of early and late infections of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) disease on the growth and reproductive characteristics in two cultivars of sweet pepper Cayenne and Yolo Wonder). Each cultivar was evaluated in three independent trials for early infection (infected at 4-leaf stage), late infection (infected at 8-leaf stage), and control (uninoculated) under screenhouse conditions. Sweet pepper seeds were planted in plastic pots using Completely Randomised Design (CRD) with 20 replicates. One hundred percent disease incidence was observed in both early and late infected plants of the two cultivars. In the plants infected at 8-leaf stage, disease severity was suppressed by 36.4 and 23.3% in Cayenne and Yolo Wonder, respectively. Late infection decreased height, leaf diameter, fruit length and fruit weight by 7.1, 6.4, 2 and 15.3%, respectively in Cayenne. Conversely, late infection suppressed these traits by 6.7, 8.2, 16.7, and 17.1%, respectively in Yolo Wonder. This study revealed that early CMV infection of Cayenne and Yolo Wonder pepper was more devastating than late infection. Therefore, pepper farmers should adopt strategies that would prevent early infection of pepper plants in CMV endemic areas so as to ensure appreciable yield.