A Brief Review on Soybean Infecting Virus Diseases in Iran

Abstract: Viral diseases of economic importance have been reported to infect soybean crop and causes considerable damage to the crop and economic losses to the farmers. During different surveys, various and common symptoms of mosaic, vein banding, reduction in overall plant growth, flower and pod formation disorders, necrotic spots on leaves and stem, leaf deformation and yellowing, leaf crinkling and mid rib narrowing were observed in soybean diseased plants in the field. Totals of 3,110 random leaf samples were collected during the growing season of 2018 and 2019 in five provinces of Iran, where commercial soybean is grown, and tested by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using specific polyclonal antibodies. Serological diagnoses were confirmed by electron microscopy and host range studies. The highest virus incidence among the surveyed provinces was recorded in Mazandaran (18.6%), followed by Golestan (15.7%), Khuzestan (14.2%), Ardabil (13.9%), and Lorestan (13.5%). Incidence of viruses in decreasing order was SMV (13.3%), TSWV (5.4%), TRSV (4.2%), TSV (4.1%), PEMV (2.9%), BYMV (2.2%), ToRSV (2.1%), AMV (1.3%), BCMV (0.8%), and CMV (0.6%). Additionally, 1.5% of collected leaf samples had positive reactions in ELISA with antiserum to TMV, indicating the possible infection of soybeans in Iran with a tobamovirus that is related serologically to TMV. In Dot- Elisa, BlCMV and PeMoV was also shown to be present in the collected samples. Soybean mosaic potyvirus (SMV) and the other seed transmissible viruses, are the most prevalent viruses in soybean fields in Iran. The overview highlights the past and present ongoing research and achievements on status of viral diseases of soybean crop in Iran.