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Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

Sweetpotato virus G (374)

Photo 1. Appearance of sweet potato virus-G on the indicator plant, Ipomoea setosa. Symptoms on sweet potato varieties are rare in the field.

Summary

Worldwide distribution. Present in several Pacific island countries. Only found in sweet potato. The abbreviation is SPVG. It is a potyvirus.
Damage: on its own no symptoms and probably little impact on yield; with other viruses, e.g., Sweetpotato feathery mottle (and perhaps Sweetpotato chlorotic stunt virus), SPVG multiplies many times normal resulting in lower yields.
Detection: grafting to Ipomoea setosa, or using ELISA and/or PCR.
Natural enemies: there are many parasitoids and predators of aphids, but aphids are not commonly seen on sweet potato in Pacific island countries, so their effect is probably small.
Spread by aphids, infected cuttings and storage roots.
Cultural control: use planting material from healthy 'seed' scheme (i.e., mother plants regrown from meristems after heat treatments and tested negatively for SPVG.
Chemical control: Not a method to use as insecticides cannot kill the aphids before they have transferred the virus.

Common Name

Sweet potato virus G.

Scientific Name

Sweetpotato virus G; previously it was known as C8 virus. The abbreviation is SPVG. Different strains of SPVG are reported. The virus particles are flexus rods.

AUTHORS Sandra Dennien & Grahame Jackson
Information from Dennien et al. (2013) Growing healthy sweetpotato: best practices for producing planting material. ACIAR Monograph no. 153. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research: Canberra. 176 pp. Photo 1 Segundo Fuentes. International Potato Center, Peru.

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under projects i) HORT/2016/185: Responding to emerging pest and disease threats to horticulture in the Pacific islands, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and ii) PC2011/053: Supporting commercial sweetpotato production and marketing in the PNG Highlands, implemented by the Central Queensland University and the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

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