Abstract:

Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) is caused by whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses and is a
major constraint to cassava production in Africa. Field surveys were conducted in three
(Bushbuckridge, Mariti and Tonga) cassava growing areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga
provinces in South Africa during two seasons (2004/2005 and 2005/2006). Results
showed that a higher percentage (27.1%) of CMD infection was due to the use of infected
planting materials compared to whitefly borne-infections (10.4%). Disease symptoms
were generally mild. There was no change in disease incidence over the survey
period. Molecular characterization of cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMG’s), using
differential primer PCR, restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP’s),
phylogenetic and recombination analysis and screening for satellite DNA’s.
Differential primer PCR and RFLP’s showed that African cassava mosaic virus
(ACMV) was the most prevalent virus in South Africa and that mixed infections were
a common occurrence