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Natural Infection of Mungbean by Bean Common Mosaic Virus. Walter J. Kaiser, Research Plant Pathologist, Regional Pulse Improvement Project, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, American Embassy, Tehran, Iran, Present address: E.A.A.F.R.O., P.O. Box 30148, Nairobi, Kenya; G. H. Mossahebi, Plant Pathologist, Pulse Project, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. Phytopathology 64:1209-1214. Accepted for publication 17 April 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-1209.

A seed-borne, aphid-transmitted virus was found infecting mungbeans (Vigna radiata) in various regions of Iran. The virus produced deformation, puckering, rolling, blistering, and mosaic symptoms on the foliage of virus-infected mungbeans. The pathogen was seed-borne in mungbean (8 to 32%) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) (approx. 7%). The mungbean virus adversely affected growth and yields of mungbean, especially when infection occurred before pod set. Yields from 11 mungbean lines infected from seed were reduced by 31 to 75%. Two mungbean lines were highly resistant to the virus in field trials at Karaj, Iran. The virus was transmitted in a stylet-borne manner by several aphid species, including Aphis craccivora, Acyrthosiphon pisum, and Acyrthosiphon sesbaniae. Electron micrographs of negatively stained leaf-dip preparations showed that infection was associated with flexuous particles approx. 750 nm in length. From host range studies, symptoms, seed and vector transmission, serology, and particle morphology, the mungbean virus was identified as a strain of bean common mosaic virus.