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Etiology

Host Range and Properties of Peanut Stunt Virus from Morocco. H. U. Fischer, Laboratoire de Virologie, Direction de la Recherche Agronomique, Phytiatrie, Rabat, Morocco; B. E. L. Lockhart, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul/Laboratoire de Virologie, Institute Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco. Phytopathology 68:289-293. Accepted for publication 1 September 1977. Copyright © 1978 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-68-289.

A virus that caused a severe disease of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Morocco was identified as peanut stunt virus (PSV). Identification was based on host range, physical properties, particle morphology, aphid transmissibility, and serological relationships. This virus has previously been reported only from the USA and Japan. The Moroccan virus was serologically related but not identical to the eastern (PSV-E) and western (PSV-W) American strains of PSV. On the differential hosts Tennessee Greenpod bean and Perfected Wales pea the Moroccan PSV isolate also produced symptoms distinctly different from those produced by the two American virus strains. All 26 cultivars of bean tested were susceptible to infection by the Moroccan PSV isolate. The virus also was isolated from peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in the vicinity of infected bean fields.