Epidemiology of Plum Pox Potyvirus (Sharka) in Algeria Mohamed Bouziane Rafika1 , Belkahla Hadjira2 , Snoussi Sid-Ahmed, Bouriah Sabrina and Souaber Asma 1 Laboratoire des biotechnologies végétales, département des sciences de la nature et de la vie, Université Saad Dahleb Blida, Algérie Phone : + 213 0772 22 48 46 e-mail :
[email protected] 2 Laboratoire de virologie végétale, département des sciences de la nature et de la vie, Université Saad Dahleb Blida, AlgériePhone : + 213 0771 90 07 89 e-mail :
[email protected] KEYSWORDS: Sharka, PPV, stone fruit trees, epidemiology, aphid vectors of PPV estimated that the costs of principled struggle against Sharka in the world since the 70 years are ABSTRACT Epidemiological study of 4 consecutive years in 14 sites in Algeria over several stone fruit species showed the presence of different typical over 10 billion EUR (Cambra et al., 2006). It was symptoms of Sharka from simple chlorotic rings to identified for the first time in Bulgaria in 1917- considerable decline and premature fruit drop, 1918 on plum and described as viral disease in and several species of aphid vectors of PPV : 1932. Since then, the virus has spread gradually Brachycaudus helichrysi, Myzus persicae, Aphis throughout much of Europe, on the citricola, Myzus varians, Hyalopterus pruni, Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. His Brachycaudus persicae and Brachycaudus cardui presence has been observed in a restricted area of with infection rates that varied from one site to distribution in North America, South America and another and from one fruit species to another. The Asia (EPPO, 2006; CAB International, 2011). important infestation rates were recorded on plum (68.72%) and in the site Meftah (100%).