Primary Studies on Viral Diseases of Petunia
Abstract: Two kinds of virus isolates P 14 and P a 1,P 33 were isolated from the mosaic,crinkled and stunted petunia (Petunia hybrida Vila) plants.The isolate P 14 was identified as cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and the isolates P a 1 and P 33 as turnip mosaic virus (TuMV).CMV was the prevailing virus in petunia. Virus free research results showed as follows:(1)CMV free plantlets were not obtained when the leaves,flower buds and meristem tips (more than 0.3mm) were cultured; (2) CMV free plantlets were gained when 0.15-0.25 mm meristem tips from the infected plants or 0.3-0.5 mm meristem tips from the infected plants after different heat treatments were cultured.