Effects of Common Viruses on Yield and Quality of Beauregard Sweetpotato in Louisiana

During cycles of vegetative propagation, sweetpotato accumulates viruses that are thought to contribute to decline in yield and quality of cultivars, but the effects of specific viruses, many of which have been described only recently, are unknown. Field plots planted with graft-inoculated plants of a virus-tested (VT) mericlone of cv. Beauregard were used to assess the effects of three common potyviruses, Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG), and Ipomoea vein mosaic virus (IVMV); and a begomovirus, Sweet potato leaf curlvirus (SPLCV), compared with natural inoculum introduced by grafting plants from farmers' stock. Single infections with SPFMV, SPVG, or IVMV did not significantly affect yield, whereas mixed infections with SPFMV + SPVG or SPFMV + SPVG + IVMV resulted in mean yields 14% less than the VT controls. Infection with SPLCV resulted in mean yields 26% less than the VT controls, despite not causing symptoms on the foliage. However, grafting with farmers' plants infected with an unknown mixture of pathogens resulted in mean yields 31 to 44% less than the VT controls. Infection with potyviruses resulted in storage roots with tan periderm and infection with SPLCV induced darker periderm than the rosy VT controls. Infection with the viruses known to occur commonly in the United States did not reproduce the magnitude of yield reduction that has been observed with naturally infected plants.