Incidence and disease control of Zucchini yellow mosaic potyvirus

Zucchini yellow mosaic potyvirus (ZYMV) was first identified in northern Italy. It likes other species of the family Potyuiridue. ZYMV has been recorded in many countries since 1981. The efficient intercontinental spread of the virus can be explained by international trading of infected seeds. Since coat protein (CP) analysis has become a primary method for taxonomic assignment of potyviruses the aims were to characterize this genomic region of ZYMV originating from virus-infected cucurbitaceous seedlings. Virus infection in cucurbits is typically associated with mosaic symptoms on leaves and lumpy, distorted fruit. The range of symptoms produced by each virus can overlap and plants are commonly infected by more than one virus at once. The viruses are spread by many species of aphids moving through or within a crop. Control options include: destroying old cucurbit crops as soon as harvesting is completed destroying weeds and volunteer cucurbits, within and around crops as these harbor the viruses and/or the aphids separating new crops from maturing crops as these will have high levels of virus infection avoiding overlapping crops of cucurbits.