Disease Note.

First Report of Wheat Spindle Streak Mosaic Virus in Delaware. R. P. Mulrooney, Delaware Cooperative Extension Service, University of Delaware, Newark 19717. J. C. Windsor, and T. A. Evans. Delaware Cooperative Extension Service, and Department of Plant Science, University of Delaware, Newark 19717. Plant Dis. 73:444. Accepted for publication 20 February 1989. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-0444D.

Wheat spindle streak mosaic virus (WSSMV) was detected for the first time in Deleware during the spring of 1988 in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. 'Saluda') in Sussex County. Symptoms included bright yellow spindle-shaped streaks in the foliage, stunting, and reduced tillering. WSSMV symptoms. Fifty virus particles measured in electron miscroscope leaf dip preperations had a modal size of 16 x 1,780 nm. Wheat soilborne mosaic, wheat streak, and barley yellow dwarf viruses were not detected in samples taken from these fields. Harvest data from replicated field plots indicated that yields were reduced 2% by WSSMV infection. This report extends the geographic range of WSSMV to the Atlantic Coast and completes the migration of this virus to the east.