VIEW ARTICLE

Elimination of Cassava Mosaic Disease by Meristem Culture. K. K. Kartha, Prairie Regional Laboratory, National Research Council of Canada, Saskatoon S7N 0W9, Canada; O. L. Gamborg, Prairie Regional Laboratory, National Research Council of Canada, Saskatoon S7N 0W9, Canada. Phytopathology 65:826-828. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-826.

The cassava mosaic agent was eliminated from two cultivars of Indian and Nigerian origin by culturing shoot apical meristems on a Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with benzyladenine (5 × 10^–7 M), naphthaleneacetic acid (10^–6M) and gibberellic acid (GA₃ 10^–7 M). Plant regeneration averaged 90 to 95% and 60% of the regenerated plants were mosaic symptom-free when explants of up to 0.4 mm in length were cultured. Growing diseased cuttings at 35 C for 30 days resulted in the production of plants without symptoms and from such plants meristem tips of up to 0.8 mm were cultured and mosaic disease-free plants regenerated. Results of graft transmission experiments demonstrated the absence of the causal agent in the plants regenerated by meristem culture technique.