Survey of Wild Ipomoea spp. as Potential Reservoirs of Sweet Potato Feathery Mottle Virus in Louisiana. C. A. Clark, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge 70803-1720. K. S. Derrick, C. S. Pace, and B. Watson, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge 70803-1720. Plant Dis. 70:931-932. Accepted for publication 4 May 1986. Copyright 1986 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-70-931.

The growth habit and incidence of infection by sweet potato feathery mottle virus (FMV) of commonly occurring species of Ipomoea were monitored from March through June for three successive years. Seedlings and perennial plants of I. trichocarpa were observed each year. FMV was detected in perennial plants soon after emergence in March to April. I. pandurata was exclusively perennial in habit and was not a host for FMV, because the virus was not detected in plants from field collections or after graft inoculation with several different strains of FMV. I. hederacea and I. wrightii occurred only as annuals. FMV was not detected in either species until 2 mo after seedling emergence. Because infected I. trichocarpa plants are present throughout the sweet potato growing season, they may be an important perennial reservoir of FMV in Louisiana.