The production of Citrus tristeza virus-free Zorica Rana, a Croatian selection of Satsuma mandarin

Author: Katarina Hančević ^1*, Danijela Hartl Musinov ¹, Silvija Černi ², Jakša Rošin ¹, Mladen Krajačić ², Živko Gatin ¹ and Dijana Škorić ²

Received 27 June 2009, accepted 29 September 2009.

Abstract

Citrus is commercially grown in Croatia between the 42° and 44° of northern latitudes. This is one of the northernmost commercial citrus growing areas in the world. Due to their relative frost tolerance, cultivars of the Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu (Mak.) Marc.) are commercially the most important citrus crop in this agroecological niche and potentially an important export fruit product. The main objective of this work was to eliminate the Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) from clones of extra-early Satsuma Zorica Rana (Croatian selection). The presence of CTV was confirmed in all Zorica Rana mother plants. Following the thermotherapy of Zorica Rana plants, shoot-tip grafting was performed on in vitro grown virus free Troyer citrange rootstock. The efficiency of CTV elimination was confirmed by means of DAS-ELISA and IC/RT-PCR in all tested clones. This is the first report on CTV elimination procedure in Zorica Rana Satsuma selection and the first step towards the production of virus-free citrus planting material in the region.