Abstract
A study was conducted to examine the effect of virus infection on alkaloid synthesis in case of Papaver somniferum using Poppy mosaic virus (PMV-P, potyviridae), which constantly inflicted disease in opium poppy at research farms of CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow and in commercial plantations at adjoining district, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India. Infection by this virus caused favorable effect on morphine and codeine production than other tested alkaloids, suggesting that PMV-P, which has RNA as its genome, served as a positive stress in case of infection for long and short durations in poppy genotypes and affected alkaloid's synthesis.