Chilli leaf curl disease

Chilli leaf curl virus and related begomoviruses Begomoviruses (family Geminiviridae) including chilli leaf curl virus and chilli leaf curl India virus, often with betasatellites · formerly or also: ChiLCV, ChiLCD (the disease)

पत्ती मरोड़ रोग / मुरडा (patti marod rog / murda) · Hindi, South Asia
leaf curl of chilli / pepper leaf curl · English, South and Southeast Asia
辣椒曲叶病 (làjiāo qūyè bìng) · Chinese, East Asia

Chilli leaf curl is the most destructive virus disease of chilli in South Asia and an important one across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Leaves curl upward, pucker and shrink, plants become bushy and stunted, and flowers and fruit drop - in severe cases no marketable fruit is produced. It is caused by several whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses, and its symptoms are often made worse by thrips and mites feeding at the same time.

Type: Virus disease · Virus (begomoviruses with single-stranded DNA genomes), spread by whiteflies
Classification: Geplafuvirales › Geminiviridae › Begomovirus
Main crops: Chilli & sweet pepper, Tomato, Papaya
Found in: South Asia, Southeast and East Asia, Middle East and Africa
Chemical groups: IRAC 4A, IRAC 23, IRAC 9B (mode-of-action groups, not products)
Last reviewed: 2026-10-20

What causes chilli leaf curl disease?

Chilli leaf curl disease is caused by Chilli leaf curl virus and related begomoviruses Begomoviruses (family Geminiviridae) including chilli leaf curl virus and chilli leaf curl India virus, often with betasatellites, a virus (begomoviruses with single-stranded DNA genomes), spread by whiteflies (order Geplafuvirales, family Geminiviridae).

Older or alternative scientific names: ChiLCV, ChiLCD (the disease).

Where it occurs

Most important in the Indian subcontinent, where it is present in all chilli-growing areas, and reported from Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East (for example Oman) and parts of Africa. Different begomovirus species dominate in different regions.

Region	Status
South Asia	Widespread; the main virus disease of chilli
Southeast and East Asia	Present; several related begomoviruses
Middle East and Africa	Reported in several countries

Symptoms and identification of chilli leaf curl disease

The organism

Begomoviruses are detected by PCR. Chilli leaf curl virus is often accompanied by a small DNA 'betasatellite' that intensifies symptoms. Transmission is by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent, circulative way, and by grafting; not through seed or by touch.

Signs in the crop, stage by stage

Crop stage	What you see
Seedling and young plant	Upward curling and cupping of young leaves, vein thickening and puckering; infected seedlings remain severely stunted.
Vegetative growth	Small, crinkled, leathery leaves crowded on shortened internodes, giving a bushy appearance; pale or yellowish leaf margins.
Flowering and fruiting	Flower drop, few small and deformed fruit; plants infected early bear almost nothing.

Disease cycle of chilli leaf curl disease

Life cycle of Chilli leaf curl disease — diagram drawn by Laisha from the stages below. Durations depend on temperature.

Whiteflies pick up the virus from infected chilli, tomato, papaya and weeds and carry it to new plantings, often starting in the nursery. Symptoms appear about two to three weeks after infection. The virus survives between seasons in perennial and weed hosts and in overlapping crops.

Stage	Duration	Notes
Acquisition by whitefly	From minutes to hours of feeding	Efficiency rises with feeding time.
Latent period in the whitefly	Several hours	Circulative.
Transmission	Whitefly remains infective for days to weeks	Persistent.
Symptom development	About 2-3 weeks	Young plants suffer most.

Temperature

Epidemics follow whitefly abundance, which peaks in warm, dry seasons.

Generations

Spread continues while infective whiteflies and susceptible plants are present.

Conditions that favour it

High whitefly populations, nurseries raised in the open next to infected fields, continuous chilli and tomato cropping, weed reservoirs, and susceptible varieties.

Economic threshold level (ETL)

There is no economic threshold for the virus; a few infective whiteflies in the nursery can lead to heavy losses. Management is preventive.

Thresholds are local. They depend on crop price, control cost, variety and natural-enemy activity, so use the figure your local extension service publishes where one exists.

Damage and yield loss from chilli leaf curl disease

Losses of marketable fruit range up to 100% in fields infected early; average losses in affected regions of South Asia are often reported at 20-60%.

Monitoring

Inspect nursery seedlings and young plants twice a week for upward curling; confirm suspicious plants by laboratory test where possible.
Monitor whiteflies with yellow sticky traps and leaf inspections.
Check for thrips (upward curling with silvering) and broad mites (downward curling with bronzing), which cause look-alike symptoms and often occur together with the virus.

How to control chilli leaf curl disease (integrated management)

Control works best as a sequence: prevent, monitor, then act only when a threshold or a risk forecast says so, using the least disruptive option that works.

Cultural control

Raise seedlings under fine insect-proof net and transplant only symptom-free plants.
Remove and destroy infected plants in the first month and keep fields free of weed hosts.
Avoid planting next to older chilli, tomato or papaya fields; keep a host-free period where possible.
Barrier crops of maize or sorghum around fields reduce whitefly entry.

Mechanical and physical control

Reflective or silver mulches and yellow sticky traps reduce whitefly landing in young crops.

Biological control

Natural enemies of whiteflies help, but cannot prevent virus spread on their own.

Host resistance

Tolerant chilli lines have been identified and are being used in breeding by public programmes; few commercially available varieties are strongly resistant, so integrated measures remain essential.

Chemical control of chilli leaf curl disease — by mode-of-action group only

Laisha names chemical options only by their resistance-committee mode-of-action group (IRAC for insects, mites and nematodes, FRAC for fungi, oomycetes and bacteria, HRAC for weeds), never by active ingredient or product. What is registered differs by country and changes over time; the label and your local plant-protection authority decide what may be used, on which crop, at what rate and with what pre-harvest interval.

No chemical controls the virus. Insecticides against whiteflies are used in the nursery and early crop, rotated by mode of action; acaricides and thrips control address look-alike damage. What is registered differs by country and changes over time; follow the label and your local plant-protection authority.

Scheme	Group	Mode of action	Notes
IRAC	4A	Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor competitive modulators (neonicotinoids), against the vector	Nursery and early use; whitefly resistance widespread.
IRAC	23	Inhibitors of acetyl CoA carboxylase, against vector nymphs	Selective.
IRAC	9B	Chordotonal organ TRPV channel modulators, against the vector	Feeding inhibitor.

Resistance management

Rotate insecticide groups against whiteflies and do not repeat the same group in nursery and field.

Look-alikes and how to tell them apart

Chilli thrips damage — Upward curling with silvery or bronze streaks on the underside and tiny thrips in the growing tips.
Broad mite damage — Downward curling, narrow bronzed leaves and twisted tips; mites visible only with a strong lens.
Herbicide drift — Twisting and cupping on many plants at once after a spray, not spreading over time.

Host range

Chilli and sweet pepper are the main hosts. The same or related begomoviruses infect tomato, papaya, tobacco, okra and several weeds, which act as reservoirs.

What is still uncertain

Several begomovirus species and satellites cause the disease, and their distribution is incompletely mapped.
The relative contribution of virus, thrips and mites to field symptoms varies.

Grow guides for its host crops

How to grow the crop well is the first line of defence. Laisha's free grow guides cover each crop from sowing to harvest:

How to grow Chilli & sweet pepper How to grow Tomato How to grow Papaya

Not sure this is what you are seeing?Ask Laisha: describe the symptoms or send a photo, and get a reasoned first read with what to check next — for your crop, your stage and your region.Ask Laisha

Sources

Chilli leaf curl virus datasheet — CABI Compendium. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.51238613
Current status, breeding strategies and future prospects for managing chilli leaf curl virus disease — Frontiers in Plant Science (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10626458/
An overview of chili leaf curl disease in the Indian subcontinent — Frontiers in Microbiology (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9277185/
Chilli leaf curl India virus datasheet — CABI Compendium. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabicompendium.120275

Written by Laisha from the sources above, in its own words. This page is general reference, not a prescription: confirm identification locally and follow the label and your plant-protection authority.