Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Acta Horticulturae, cilt.656, ss.181-186, 2004 (Scopus)
Samples (shoots and leaves) were collected in August 2002 from symptomatic plants in two cultivated blackberry (Rubus spp.) fields and from wild blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L.) plants growing at the border of citrus orchards in Adana, Hatay and Içel provinces in Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Blackberry plants were observed to show symptoms consisting of numerous short, weak, thin and erect shoots arising from single buds. These shoots produce minute leaves and confer upon the plants a bushy appearance. Cuttings of symptomatic plants were rooted in pots and kept in insect-proof growing room. Small bits of stems taken from symptomatic plants (2 cultivated and 7 wild blackberries) were stained with DAPI and examined with an epifluorescence microscope. Two DAPI-positive samples were also prepared for electron microscopy. Ultra-thin sections of midribs were then examined under a Philips CM10 transmission electron microscope (TEM). After DAPI staining, typical fluorescence was detected in sieve tubes of all symptomatic plants. In ultra-thin sections, phytoplasma bodies of different sizes and shapes occurred in the sieve tubes of midribs. According to symptoms observation of diseased plants, to DAPI staining and TEM analyses, it is suggested that the causal agent of the disease in Rubus spp. is a phytoplasma. The results obtained from PCR/RFLP analyses confirmed the presence of phytoplasmas in Rubus samples. This is the first report of rubus stunt disease in Turkey. Further studies are necessary to investigate distribution and natural transmission of the disease in cultivated Rubus spp.