Virus Diseases of Peppers

Abstract

The acreage and value of the New York pepper crop are relatively minor, but peppers are still an important commodity in commercial mixed vegetable and roadside market operations. Virus diseases annually reduce yield and quality of all pepper types including bell, cubanelle, banana, and, occasionally, hot varieties. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is by far the most important pepper virus in New York although tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), tobacco etch virus (TEV), tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), and alfalfa mosaic virus (AMY) appear sporadically. Potato virus Y (PVY), pepper mottle virus (PeMV), and TEV occur more regularly in the southern states. How some of these viruses reach the northern states is unclear. They may move north via migrant aphids, which carry the viruses progressively northward, passing them from one susceptible crop to another along the Atlantic coast. Dissemination from infected transplants produced in southern states has not been demonstrated.