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Mechanical Transmission, Host Range, and Physical Properties of the Beet Yellow Vein Virus. E. G. Ruppel, Research Plant Pathologist, Plant Science Research Division, ARS, USDA, Crops Research Laboratory, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521; J. E. Duffus, Research Plant Pathologist, Plant Science Research Division, ARS, USDA, U.S. Agricultural Research Station, Salinas, California 93901. Phytopathology 61:1418-1422. Accepted for publication 6 July 1971. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-1418.

Mechanical transmission of beet yellow vein virus (BYVV), collected from several locations in California and the Great Plains, was facilitated by addition of 0.02 M sodium sulfite to the inoculum. Spinacea oleracea served as the virus source in all studies. Of 61 species of plants, only Beta macrocarpa, B. maritima, B. vulgaris (sugar beet), B. vulgaris var. cicla, Chenopodium capitatum, Senecio vulgaris (symptomless), and Spinacea oleracea became systemically infected with BYVV. Local lesions were formed in all Beta spp. except B. maritima, and in C. album, C. amaranticolor, C. capitatum, C. murale, C. quinoa, and C. urbicum in 6-10 days. Chenopodium quinoa was used for local lesion assays. Systemic symptoms took 12-14 days to appear in C. capitatum and spinach, whereas 25-30 days were necessary in Beta hosts. The dilution end point of BYVV was between 10^–4 and 10^–5, but most infectivity was lost when dilution exceeded 10^–2. Thermal inactivation occurred between 65 and 70 C, with most infectivity lost in extracts heated over 50 C. Extracts remained infectious after being stored 48 hr at 25 C or at 3-4C; greater infectivity occurred with extracts stored at the lower temperature. Frozen sap extracts lost infectivity within 24 hr; however, the virus remained viable in frozen tissue for 14 days.