INCIDENCE OF POTATO VIRUSES IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHAWA, PAKISTAN

Three consecutive potato crops are grown annually in Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) province is the main source for seed tubers. During the year 2010, 240 symptomatic and viral susceptible potato leave samples were collected from Swat, Dir, Abbottabad and Mansehra and serologically confirmed through Double Antibody Sandwich (DAS) Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA) against Potato virus X (PVX), Potato virus Y (PVY), Potato leaf roll virus (PLRV), Potato virus M (PVM), Potato virus S (PVS) and Potato virus A (PVA). The presence or absence of viruses was confirmed by observing the yellow and white color in ELISA plates respectively. According to ELISA results, overall percentage incidence of viral diseases was found highest in Swat (65%) followed by Mansehra (61%), Dir (53%) and Abbottabad (43.33%) while PVY and PVS were dominant in Swat (26.66%), Dir (20%), Mansehra (15%) and Abbottabad (21.66%) respectively. PVX was not detected in Abbottabad while Swat samples seemed to be free from PVM and PVA.