Occurrence of strawberry viruses in Fragaria germplasm and evaluation of cryotherapy as an eradication method for strawberry viruses

Strawberry plants are highly susceptible to viral infections, which pose significant threats to global strawberry production. This study aims to explore the efficacy of in vitro initiation and cryopreservation of shoot tips as a potential strategy for eradicating strawberry viruses. We tested plants for four important strawberry viruses namely: SMoV, SCV, SMEY and SVBV. The plants, which tested positive were either cultivated as in vitro cultures then returned to a green house or field collection cultivation, or treated by cryopreservation. After cryopreservation, the plants were cultivated again in vitro and then in the green house or field. The viruses were detected within each propagation step. Significant eradication effects were found for SMoV and SCV when plants were treated by in vitro initiation or with cryotherapy, but not for SMEY or SVBV. The results of this study show that cryotherapy or in vitro initiation can lead to the elimination of strawberry viruses, but the kind of therapy appears to depend on the type of virus.