VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Involvement of Maize Chlorotic Dwarf Virus and Other Agents in Stunting Diseases of Zea mays in the United States. D. T. Gordon, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH 44691; L. R. Nault, Professor, Department of Entomology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, OH 44691. Phytopathology 67:27-36. Accepted for publication 20 June 1976. Copyright © 1977 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-67-27.

Maize chlorotic dwarf virus (MCDV) was identified in 76% of 522 diseased corn (Zea mays) samples from 16 of 23 states during 1973-1975. The region of MCDV occurrence was from the Gulf of Mexico northward to southern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri and from southern Atlantic Coast states to Texas. Maize dwarf mosaic virus strain A (MDMV-A) was identified in 35% of 520 diseased samples from 16 of 21 states, MDMV strain B in 4% of diseased samples, and wheat streak mosaic virus in two diseased samples. Two (both from Texas) of 168 tested samples from 15 states were infected with a Dalbulus maidis-transmitted corn stunt spiroplasma. In immune density-gradient centrifugation, MCDV reacted with homologous antiserum but not with antiserum to MDMV-A. Maize chlorotic dwarf virus infections were correlated with plant stunting and leaf chlorosis or reddening, symptoms that frequently are attributed to corn stunt and maize dwarf mosaic diseases in the USA. Only chlorotic striping of tertiary veins was diagnostic for MCDV infections. This investigation implicates MCDV as the most frequent incitant of the major corn stunting disease in southern and adjacent corn belt states of the USA.