Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the main vegetable crops grown and consumed in Tunisia. The seasonal and late-season fresh pepper cultivars are grown in the open field, while the off-season product is grown under cover. Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV), one of the major threats to cucurbits, is sporadically detected in tomato Tunisia (Zammouri et al. 2017). Since pepper, cucurbit and tomato crops overlap in the field, it is likely that pepper may become infected with ToLCNDV. Actually, pepper plants often show symptoms similar to tomato yellow leaf curl virus, such as severe yellowing, leaf curling, vein swelling, occasionally fruit skin roughness and brown necrosis of stem. To assess the presence of ToLCNDV in pepper, 24 symptomatic leaf samples were collected in Bizerte in 2017, Haouaria in 2019, and Monastir in 2020 from protected and open cultivations. Total DNA was extracted as previously described in (Mnari-Hattab et al. 2014). PCR was performed using total DNA and ToLCNDV specific primers MA2061 and MA2062 (Ruiz et al. 2015). An amplified product of approximately 890 bp was obtained from 19 out of the 24 tested samples. Two amplified DNA products, one from Bizerte and one from Haouaria, were directly sequenced. The ToLCNDV sequences (OK184448, OK184449) shared more than 99% nucleotide identity to Tunisian ToLCNDV tomato isolates MF784759, MF784758, and pepper isolate 126 from Italy (MK756108), and 86% to various peppers isolates from India (MG597207 and MG597211). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of ToLCNDV infection on pepper in Tunisia.

Data availability

The sequencing data generated in this study were deposited in the Genbank and are freely available to any researcher.