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A New Grapevine Disease Induced by Tobacco Ringspot Virus. R. M. Gilmer, Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva 14456; J. K. Uyemoto(2), and L. J. Kelts(3). (2)(3)Assistant Professor, and Experimentalist, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva 14456. Phytopathology 60:619-627. Accepted for publication 28 October 1969. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-619.

A new grapevine disease discovered in several New York vineyards was induced by tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV). In two vineyards containing a mixture of European and American grape cultivars, only vines of European cultivars were infected. Symptoms were similar to those of grape fan leaf disease: delayed initiation of growth; stunting; and chlorotic rings or watermarking of foliage. In midsummer, leaves were mottled and malformed, with prominent irregular serrations and broad petiolar sinuses. Diseased vines were severely injured by cold; they set few or no fruits the 2nd year of infection. The causal virus was identified as TRSV by host range, serology, and electron microscopy. TRSV was readily isolated by mechanical transmission from foliage of infected vines and from roots or callus of infected cuttings. TRSV was sometimes irregularly distributed in cuttings from infected vines. The disease syndrome was partially reproduced in young grape seedlings that were mechanically inoculated with TRSV isolates from infected vines. TRSV was recovered from cucumber or snapdragon seedlings grown in soil from an infected vineyard, suggesting soil transmission of the virus to grape. The nematode Xiphenema americanum, a vector of TRSV, was abundant in vineyard soil.