The culture of black pepper ( Piper nigrum L.) is of great socio-economical importance in the northern states of Brazil, Pará especially. However, its production has been suffering the incidence of diseases such as the one caused by the Cucumber mosaic virus(CMV) and the Piper yellow mottle virs (PYMoV). Although these viruses have already been reported in many of the Brazilian states, there are too few studies that address the virus diseases which affect this culture. Hence, this project aims to identify, characterize and put together all the data that reveals which types of virus are present in Para's black pepper plantations and in the Active Black Pepper Germoplasm Bank of Oriental Amazon Embrapa. Furthermore, this project also intends to: develop a clonal cleaning protocol for the infected plants; identify the transmitter scale insects for the PYMoV; study the range of PYMoV alternate hosts; to evaluate the virus transmission through black pepper seeds.

The results obtained in this project will make ground for the elaboration of control strategies and new studies, such as the evaluation of disease resistance, the access and cultivar productivity and the production of mother plants which are virus free.

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