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Transmission of Pepper Mottle Virus From Susceptible and Resistant Pepper Cultivars. T. A. Zitter, Associate Plant Pathologist, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Research and Education Center, Belle Glade 33430; Phytopathology 65:110-114. Accepted for publication 5 August 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-110.

Virus transmission by the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, and by sap inoculation, was used to study the behavior of pepper mottle virus (PMV) in susceptible and resistant pepper cultivars. Both methods of transmission gave comparable results. The two susceptible cultivars, ‘Early Calwonder’ (EC) and breeding line ‘23Y’, and the resistant line ‘AV23Y’ were equally susceptible as test hosts using either method of inoculation. The susceptible cultivars behaved similarly as virus source plants, with leaf position on the source plant, and time after inoculation, having little effect on the percentage of aphid transmission to EC. Transmissions by one aphid per test plant averaged 70%. Virus transmission from the susceptible cultivars was high at 1-2 weeks after inoculation, and remained high during the 7-week assay period. Virus acquisition from the resistant source plants was low, and indicated reduced virus transmission. Transmission by aphids from the resistant source plants was 60% lower than from the susceptible cultivars. Greatest transmission from the resistant plants was reached 3 weeks after inoculation, with aphids acquiring virus most efficiently from the lower leaf position. Transmission by aphids for PMV from the susceptible pepper cultivars appears to be equivalent to the transmission achieved for other viruses of the PVY-group.