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Evidence for Soil Transmission of Sugarcane Mosaic Virus. W. P. Bond, Department of Plant Pathology, Louisiana State University, Senior author is now Assistant Professor of Biology, Southeastern Louisiana College, Hammond, 70401; T. P. Pirone, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Junior author is Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40506. Phytopathology 60:437-440. Accepted for publication 1 October 1969. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-437.

Noninoculated sorghum plants became infected with sugarcane mosaic virus when grown in containers with infected plants. Control plants grown in separate containers, but at an equal distance from the inoculated plants, did not become infected. The fact that transmission is associated with the presence of roots of healthy and infected plants in the same container, rather than the proximity of healthy and infected leaves, suggests that soil transmission, rather than transmission by aphids or other aerial vectors, is occurring. Examination of the soil ruled out nematodes or root aphids as potential vectors. Root contact was not necessary for transmission. The possibility of transmission by fungi or other microorganisms could not be ruled out.