African Crop Science Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 77 - 99 ISSN 1021-9730/2021 $4.00 Printed in Uganda. All rights reserved © 2021, African Crop Science Society African Crop Science Journal by African Crop Science Society is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Uganda License. Based on a work at www.ajol.info/ and www.bioline.org.br/cs DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/acsj.v29i1.6 DISTRIBUTION OF POTATO VIRUSES IN UGANDA A. A. BYARUGABA1, 2, 3, S.B. MUKASA1, A. BAREKYE2 and P.R. RUBAIHAYO1 1College of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Makerere University, P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda 2Kachwekano Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute, P. O. Box 421, Kabale, Uganda 3 Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, P. O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda Corresponding author:
[email protected] (Received 4 July 2020; accepted 20 January 2021) ABSTRACT Viral diseases are among the major factors affecting potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in Uganda. Knowledge of the types of viruses and their distribution levels in the country is vital for targeting sound management strategies. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and distribution of potato viruses in different potato growing areas in Uganda. Virus diagnostic surveys were conducted across the main potato producing regions and virus detection was done using DAS- ELISA and RT-PCR techniques. The study showed that the most widely distributed and economically important potato viruses were: PVS (31-90.9%), PLRV (2.6-81.3%), PVY (7.1-54.5%) and PVX (8.3 - 53.3%); while the least detected viruses were PVM (18.2%) and PVA (9%).