Disease Note.

First Report of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus in Tennessee. B. B. Reddick, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37901-1071. C. H. Hadden, S. C. Bost, and M. A. Newman. Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37901-1071. Plant Dis. 71:376. Accepted for publication 11 November 1986. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-71-0376A.

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was detected for the first lime in Tennessee in several tobacco (Nicotinia tabacum L.), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) fields. Symptoms varied with hosts but ranged from necrotic spots on young leaves, to leaf distortion and stem necrosis, to the top of the plant bent downward to the side of the plant with the most leaf necrosis. The virus was identified from several fields as TSWV by host range and protein A sandwich ELISA (antiserum provided by Guy Gooding). Mechanically inoculated greenhouse-grown tobacco and pepper plants showed symptoms similar to those observed in naturally infected fieldgrown plants. Naturally infected plants were identified by symptomatology in fields in 34 counties in middle and western Tennessee. Frequency of occurrence of TSWV-infected plants was below 10% in most fields. TSWV has a very wide host range, including many perennial weeds, and could pose a problem in the future.