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Disease Note. First Report of Asparagus Virus I in Asparagus in Michigan. T. A. Evans, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824. C. T. Stephens, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824. Plant Dis. 73:273. Accepted for publication 14 January 1989. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-0273A. A virus not previously reported in Michigan was detected in asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) in the spring of 1985. The virus was detected by the production of necrotic local lesions on Chenopodium quinoa Willd. 8-10 days after mechanical inoculation. On the basis of particle morphology, host range, symptomatology, mode of transmission, and serologically specific electron microscopy, the virus was identified as asparagus virus I (A V-I), a potyvirus (1). During a 4-yr study, A V-I was detected in only five of 66 asparagus plantings. All infected plantings were in Oceana County within a 1.6-km radius. Greenhouse and growth chamber studies indicate that the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae Sulz.) is an efficient vector of A V-I, but attempts to transmit A V-I with the European asparagus aphid (Brachycolus asparagi Mord.) failed. |