Transmission of Cowpea Mild Mottle Virus by Bemisia tabaci in a Nonpersistent Manner. V. Muniyappa, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Hebbal, Bangalore-560 024, India. D. V. R. Reddy, Principal Virologist, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru P.O. 502 324, A.P., India. Plant Dis. 67:391-393. Accepted for publication 15 August 1982. Copyright 1983 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-391.

Individual Bemisia tabaci adults acquired cowpea mild mottle virus (CMMV) in 10 min and transmitted it within 5 min to soybeans. Starvation before acquisition had no effect upon transmission, but starvation after acquisition decreased transmission frequency. Irrespective of the length of acquisition, ability to transmit CMMV was retained in the whitefly for only four successive inoculation access periods of 5 min each, but adults that lost the ability to transmit the virus could reacquire and transmit the virus. CMMV was not detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in adults that had been given acquisition access periods of 1–8 hr.