VIEW ARTICLE

Metabolism and Carbohydrate Composition in Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus-Infected Wheat. Stanley G. Jensen, Research Plant Pathologist, Plant Science Research Division, ARS, USDA, Northern Grain Insects Research Laboratory, Brookings, South Dakota 57006; Phytopathology 62:587-592. Accepted for publication 30 September 1971. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-62-587.

Field performance factors and physiological factors of healthy and barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV)-infected plants were compared in 10 cultivars of field-grown hard red spring wheat. Twenty-seven of 46 factors measured were significantly altered after BYDV infection. Barley yellow dwarf virus infection reduced the average yield by 53%, the photosynthetic rate by 45%, and the chlorophyll content by 80%. The soluble carbohydrate content of diseased leaf blades was increased by about 400%. Excessive carbohydrate accumulation occurred in leaf sheaths, but not in the culms or spikes. Starch accumulation followed the same pattern, but was less extensive. Barley yellow dwarf virus infection also results in stunting of all plant parts. The basic effect of BYDV infection appears to be the development of a resistance to the translocation of photosynthate from the leaf blade to leaf sheath to culm or spike.