Heat and freezing pre-thermal treatments as a means of freeing potatoes from mosaic virus and its effects on potato plants quality characters

Abstract

The aim of the study was to control of potato mosaic virus by using hot-air, hot-water and freezing as a physical pre-thermal treatments. Infected tubers of Lady Rosetta and Mondial potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars were treated by hot-air and hot-water treatments at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours.  Hot-air and freezing treatments showed complete elimination of mosaic virus from treated tubers. Hot-water treatment caused tuber damage at different exposure times. In this respect, hot-air treatment at 55± 2 ̊ C and freezing treatment at -18±2 ̊ C for two hours gave the best results of eliminating the virus from tubers and did not affect on economic characters of potato cultivars.