Here, we report a method to clean cassava plants from viral infections that cause cassava mosaic and brown streak diseases in Africa. Infected plants of resistant or tolerant varieties from Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were cleaned in the UK using a combination of tissue culture, chemotherapy and thermotherapy. In the first cycle of our virus-indexing procedure, we successfully cleaned 27 of the 31 varieties (87%), and after an additional three cleaning cycles, all plants were virus-free. Virus-free tissue-cultured plants were shipped back to Africa for distribution to farmers. This first cross-boundary effort provides important lessons for mitigating the two-major cassava viral diseases.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2018.09.002

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Silver Tumwegamirehttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2820-6337

Edward Kanjuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0413-1302

James Legghttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4140-3757

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pmpp.2018.09.002

BIOTECH & PLANT BREEDING; PLANT PRODUCTION & HEALTH

Cassava; Plant Breeding; Plant Health; Plant Production

Cassava; Manihot Esculenta; Cassava Mosaic Virus; Virus Indexing; East Africa; Southern Africa

Africa; East Africa; Southern Africa

Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Tanzania; Uganda

Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology