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Heat-Stable Strains of Potato Leaf Roll Virus. Frances C. Mellor, Plant Pathologist, Canada Agriculture Research Station, 6660 N. W. Marine Drive, Vancouver 8, British Columbia; Richard Stace-Smith, Plant Pathologist, Canada Agriculture Research Station, 6660 N. W. Marine Drive, Vancouver 8, British Columbia. Phytopathology 61:246-247. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-246.

Potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) and potato virus S were eradicated from potato (Solanum tuberosum) by growing infected plants at 33-36 C for 4-14 weeks, then excising axillary buds for nutrient culture. Retention of PLRV in three cultivars ranged from 0-16% of the plantlets. Size of bud excised influenced ease of eradication of the heat-tolerant PLRV. Of plantlets developed from buds 0.3-0.5 mm long, 3-6% were infected; from those 0.8-1.2 mm long, 33-41% were infected. Duration of heat treatment had no apparent influence on virus eradication.