First report of beet yellow virus causing virus yellows in sugar beet in Serbia

Abstract

Several viruses have been described to infect sugar beet (Beta vulgaris var. saccharifera L.), but virus yellows disease is one of the most important diseases in many sugar beet growing areas. It is caused by four viruses in either single or mixed infection, including the poleroviruses beet western yellows virus (BWYV), beet mild yellowing virus (BMYV), and beet chlorosis virus (BChV) and a closterovirus, beet yellows virus (BYV) (Hossain et al. 2021; Stevens et al. 2005). In August 2019, five samples of sugar beet plants showing yellowing on interveinal leaf tissue were collected in a sugar beet crop in the Novi Sad locality (Vojvodina Province, Serbia). Double-antibody sandwich (DAS) ELISA commercial antisera (DSMZ, Braunschweig, Germany) were used to test the collected samples for the presence of the most common sugar beet viruses: beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), BWYV, BMYV, BChV, and BYV. Commercial positive and negative controls were included in each ELISA test. BYV was serologically detected in all sugar beet samples, but no other viruses tested were found.