VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus Infection in Maize. Warren N. Stoner, Entomologist, Northern Grain Insects Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Brookings, SD 57006; Phytopathology 67:975-981. Accepted for publication 28 February 1977. Copyright © 1977 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-67-975.

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), isolated from field-infected oats collected near Davis, South Dakota, was transmitted to and recovered from 6 of 18 cultivars of corn (maize) using the bird-cherry oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi, as the vector. Systemic infection of BYDV in inoculated corn plants was demonstrated by serial transmission of the virus to barley from leaves that emerged after inoculation. A detailed description of the definitive symptoms of barley yellow dwarf disease in reactive corn cultivars is given. Symptomless carrier cultivars and individual symptomless infected plants were detected by recovery of the virus to susceptible, reactive, Black Hulless barley (C.I. 666). Symptoms of BYD in corn were slow to develop, appearing first in the lower mature leaves rather than in the younger whorl leaves. Symptoms developed progressively up the stalk in the alternately developing leaves of the bottom one-third to one-half of the plant. Barley yellow dwarf virus was recovered from naturally infected corn plants taken from the field. The importance of corn as a possible virus reservoir in the epidemiology of the barley yellow dwarf disease is discussed.