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Distribution, Pathogenicity, and Interactions of Two Strains of Rice yellow mottle virus in Forested and Savanna Zones of West Africa

In Côte d'Ivoire, the S2 strain of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) predominated in the forested zones, including the “rice belt” to the west, in each of the cropping systems where rice was grown. The S1 strain occurred more frequently in the northern Guinean savanna, and only S1 isolates were found further north in the Sahelo-Soudanian zones. In mixed infection, S2 dominated over S1 both in viral capsid and RNA contents under temperature regimes encompassing those observed in savanna and forested zones of Côte d'Ivoire. There was no evidence of interactions in virus accumulation between the West African strains S1 or S2 with the more distantly related East African strain S4. Field trials emphasized the impact of RYMV, which induced yield losses of 40 to 60% in several widely grown cultivars of Oryza sativa indica and O. sativa japonica. We report the high resistance of the O. indica cv. Gigante under field conditions which was apparent with all the S1 and S2 isolates tested. Responses to RYMV infection of several cultivars were isolate dependent. With most differential cultivars, responses were not strain specific, with the exception of the O. japonica cv. Idsa6, in which the S2 isolates always induced higher yield losses than the S1 isolates.