Full Length Research Paper

The use of biolistic inoculation of cassava mosaic begomoviruses in screening cassava cultivars from Ghana for resistance/susceptibility to cassava mosaic disease

Kwadwo Owusu Ayeh¹* and Jon N. E. Ramsell²

¹The Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI), Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC),

P. O. BOX LG. 80 Legon-Accra Ghana.

²National Veterinary Institute. P.b._750 Sentrum, 0106 Oslo, Norway.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: koabongi@hotmail.com. Tel: +47 64965606.

Abbreviations: CMD, Cassava mosaic disease; ACMV, African cassava mosaic virus; EACMV, East African cassava mosaic virus; ACMV-CM, African cassava mosaic virus-Cameroon; EACMV-CM, East African cassava mosaic virus-Cameroon; dpi, days post inoculation.

Accepted 11 June, 2008

The resistance/susceptibility of 5 cassava cultivars from Ghana to infectious clones of two cassava mosaic viruses (ACMV-[CM] and EACMV/ACMV-[CM]) was investigated in this study. Plantlets of cassava cultivars were obtained using nodal cuttings initiated from tissue culture. These cassava cultivars were challenged with both DNA A and B components of the infectious clones named above using particle gun bombardment. The cassava cultivars showed varying degrees of susceptibility/resistance to the two infectious clones used. All symptoms of Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) observed were systemic in nature. Generally, all cassava cultivars used in this study exhibited varying degrees of recovery from virus infection. This report demonstrates the ability of using biolistic technology to screen cassava cultivars for tolerance/resistance and that it may be used to recommend resistant cultivars to the farming community.

Key words: Biolistic, cassava, ACMV, EACMV, inoculation.