Comparison of three different techniques for eradication of Apple mosaic virus (ApMV) from hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.)

Numerous plant species around the world suffer from the presence of viruses, which especially in economically important crops, cause irretrievable damage and/or extensive losses. Many biotechnological approaches have been developed, such as meristem culture, chemotherapy, thermotherapy or cryotherapy, to eliminate viruses from infected plants. These have been used alone or in combination. In this work, meristem culture, thermotherapy and cryotherapy were compared for Apple mosaic virus elimination from hazelnut local cultivar "Palaz". The virus-free plant was also confirmed by reverse transcriptase poly-merase chain reaction (RT-PCR) after each treatment and, the best results were obtained by cryotherapy. A one step freezing technique, droplet vitrification, was used for cryotherapy, and the best regeneration percentage was 52%. After cryotherapy, virus-free seedlings of hazelnut local cultivar "Palaz" were confirmed as being virus-free after three subcultured periods.