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Prevalence and phylogeny of fig viruses in the South Croatian Adriatic Region

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  • Mate ČARIJA,
  • Katarina HANČEVIĆ,
  • Tomislav RADIĆ,
  • Emanuel GAŠI,
  • Mira RADUNIĆ
Mate ČARIJA
Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000 Split, Croatia
Katarina HANČEVIĆ
Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000 Split, Croatia
Tomislav RADIĆ
Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000 Split, Croatia
Emanuel GAŠI
Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000 Split, Croatia
Mira RADUNIĆ
Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000 Split, Croatia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/phyto-16611
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Published 2025-12-11

Keywords

  • Ficus carica L.,
  • Fig mosaic disease,
  • Mediterranean region,
  • molecular characterization

How to Cite

[1]
ČARIJA M., HANČEVIĆ K., RADIĆ T., GAŠI E., and RADUNIĆ M., “Prevalence and phylogeny of fig viruses in the South Croatian Adriatic Region”, Phytopathol. Mediterr., pp. 607–613, Dec. 2025.

Copyright (c) 2025 Mate ČARIJA, Katarina HANČEVIĆ, Tomislav RADIĆ, Emanuel GAŠI, Mira RADUNIĆ

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Fig viruses are major challenges for fig production, and may be widely present in Croatia. A survey was carried out to determine the most economically important viruses of fig trees in the South Croatian Adriatic Region, by analyzing 28 fig genotypes from field sites and a national fig collection. Using RT-PCR and specific primers, five viruses were detected, including: fig badnavirus 1 (FBV-1) in all the assessed samples, fig mosaic virus (FMV) (55% of samples), fig leaf mottle-associated virus 1 (FLMaV-1) (44%), fig fleck-associated virus (FFkaV) (17%), and fig mild mottle-associated virus (FMMaV) (10% of samples). Most of the sampled trees were infected by multiple viruses, and only five harbored only FBV-1. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses of two representative sequences for each of these viruses confirmed their identities and showed close relationships with Mediterranean isolates, indicating their regional dissemination. This study has provided new information of fig virus presence in the South Croatian Adriatic Region, is the first to report prevalence of FLMaV-1, FMMaV and FFkaV in Croatian fig germplasm, and to determine virus phylogenetic relationships. Virus monitoring in fig plantations and in certified propagation material, and integrated disease management strategies, are required to protect fig production in Croatia.

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