Khasi mandarin is one of the most remunerative crop in North Eastern Hills region of India playing a very critical role in the socio-economic upliftment of the people. The orchards of this region were found to express the typical symptoms of citrus tristeza virus (CTV). An extensive survey of the Khasi mandarin orchard for six North Eastern states of India namely Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, was carried out to establish the identity of these viruses using ELISA and PCR/RT-PCR techniques. Out of 300 Khasi mandarin tree samples collected from the six states, 172 were found to be positive for CTV infection by DAS-ELISA indicating 57.33% overall CTV disease incidence. Results revealed presence of CTV in all the surveyed states showing a maximum incidence of 66.00% in Arunachal Pradesh followed by 62.00% in Assam, 60.00% in Meghalaya and Nagaland, 54.00% in Sikkim and 42.33% in Tripura. Higher CTV concentration was recorded in the age group > 15 years (69.09%) followed by 10-15 (57%) and 5-10 years (43.33%). However, this study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first report for the detection of CTV in Khasi mandarin from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura and also the first authentic survey of overall disease incidence of CTV Khasi mandarins from the six major mandarin growing North Eastern states of India.
Keywords: Citrus tristeza virus (CTV); Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Khasi mandarin; North Eastern Himalayan region; Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).