VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Control and Pest Management

Piperonyl butoxide as a Protectant Against Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid Infection. R. P. Singh, Research Scientist, Agriculture Canada, Research Branch, Research Station, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. E3B 4Z7; Phytopathology 67:933-935. Accepted for publication 17 December 1976. Copyright © 1977 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-67-933.

Piperonyl butoxide (PB), two mineral oils, and two vegetable oils were tested for their effect on local lesions in Scopolia sinensis plants inoculated with the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV). Local lesions were strongly inhibited by PB; sesame oil inhibited them less, and other oils inhibited them only weakly. In tests with potato, PB at a concentration of 1% (v/v) prevented infection of PSTV in sprayed leaves up to 4 days, whereas sesame oil at a concentration up to 4% (v/v) failed to prevent infection. Inhibition by PB was observed in several potato cultivars, but not in the tomato plants. In one greenhouse trial equal numbers of PSTV-infected and healthy potato plants were intermingled and ‘cultivated’ regularly. In one group of potato plants sprayed each week with PB, three of the healthy plants became infected with PSTV whereas seven did so in the control group.