Due to the impact of virus infection on leaf yield and quality, CORESTA initiated collaborative work to investigate the use of resistant cultivars and preventative methods to stop or decrease viral contamination. A first period from 1996-2007 focused on PVY and then continued until 2011 with focus on all tobacco viruses. The study produced data related to viral symptoms, geographic distribution, and frequency of viral occurrence trends over a relatively long period of time. It also contributed to train participants to correctly identify virus and other diseases symptoms on tobacco, and become more familiar with plant virology principles.

This report presents the entire Collaborative Study and summarises the results.