Application of Electrotherapy for the Elimination of Potato Potyviruses

The use of healthy planting material is an important prerequisite for controlling destructive viral diseases in potato production. Virus elimination methods such as meristem culture and thermotherapy are usually used to produce the nucleus stock of healthy planting material. Here, we report a new technique of electrotherapy for elimination of two potyviruses, Potato virus A (PVA), and Potato virus Y (PVY), from potato plants. Electric currents of 15, 25 and 35 mili Ampers for 10 to 20 minutes were used for eliminating the combination of PVA and PVY in six potato cultivars. An electric current of 35 mili Ampers for 20 minutes was the most effective electrotherapy treatment for eliminating these two viruses. Responses of potato genotypes to electrotherapy were significantly different. Regenerations of electrotherapy treated plantlets in cultivars Lady Roseta and Banaba were 70.8 and 66.6 percent respectively, while these were approximately 54 to 58 percent for cultivars Olimpia, Agria, Desirea and Clone 69. Virus free plantlets were successfully produced in the potato cultivar Lady Roseta. However, in other cultivars examined in this study, electrotherapy resulted in drastic reduction of virus concentration but not total eradication of the virus infection from plant tissues.