Citrus Bent Leaf Viroid Present in Citrus in South Africa

Currently six viroid species are recognised which infect the genera Citrus and Poncirus, with an additional tentative new species reported. Citrus bent leaf viroid (CBLVd) has been reported from various citrus growing regions world-wide, but has not been formally documented from South Africa. CBLVd was detected in field samples in various citrus growing regions in South Africa during routine diagnostic analyses conducted since 2011. The detection and sequence verification of CBLVd from field samples is reported in this study. Biological confirmation of CLBVd could be done for one sample that was shown to contain a single viroid infection. Bent-leaf symptom expression was observed after slash inoculation of sample RNA to the ‘Etrog’ citron indicator host. This study was a retrospective analysis, of previously identified CLBVd-positive samples, to document the long-standing presence of CBLVd in South Africa.