ABSTRACT


Alicia Bruna de Tosso1, Vincent Santilli2 y Romilio Espejo3
 

A severe virus disease affecting commercial pepper crops in Coquimbo province, Chile, was studied and potato virus Y (PVY) was found to be the causal agent.
The diagnosis was based on differential hosts, serological reactons, physical properties of the virus and electron microscopy. The virus produces necrotic local lessions on Solanum demissum A6. the thermal inactivation point is 60ºC., the dilution-end point is 1:10.000 and the alkaline-treated antigen gives a well-defined line of precipitate with the PVY antiserum. The average length of the virus particles is 788 + 44 nm.

Keywords:
1Ing. Agr., M. s., Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG).
2Profesor de Biología, Ph. D., Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile.
3Bioquímico, Comité de Investigación Tecnológicas, CORFO.