Researchers of IPB Searched the Techniques to Suppress the Spread of Red Onion Tuber Virus

The research team consisting of Sri Hendrastuti from Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and Diny Dinarti from Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB did the research on the red onion tuber affected by the virus. The study aimed to identify the virus carrying the seed tuber and to obtain a method to get a plantlet (undifferentiated cell) virus-free as a source of tuber seed. Very high levels of the viral infection were found in the red onion seed tubers in Brebes and Cirebon.

The treatment of heating the tubers by soaking in the hot water before planting was enough to suppress the disease in the field. The incidence of the disease was more slowly in the plant that came from the tuber that was done the soaking.

From the experimental result, it was known that the combination of the explant size (the most suitable plant tissue for the tissue culture) and the explant heating on the tissue culture method had the potential be developed into the tissue culture technique to get the virus-free plantlet. The result of thermotherapy on the explant group of Bima Brebes showed that the treatment at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and the size of one milimeter had a better influence on the number of leaves, the number of roots, and the height of plants. The explant on the treatment also produced a virus-free plantlet based on the detection by the method of RT-PCR (Real time – Polymerase Chain Reaction). Another treatment recommended by this research team was to use 2 milimeter explant size and heterogeneous temperature treatment. (IRM/ris)