Seed Transmission of Peanut Stripe Virus in Peanut. Zeyong Xu, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Kunrong Chen, Zongyi Zhang, and Jinxiang Chen. Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Plant Dis. 75:723-726. Accepted for publication 15 January 1991. Copyright 1991 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-75-0723.

A direct antigen-coated, indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA-DAC) reliably detected peanut stripe virus (PStV) in peanut seed. PStV was detected in the cotyledons and embryo of all 90 infected seeds and in the testa of two seeds collected before harvest. The rate of PStV seed transmission was affected by peanut genotype and length of infection. Incidence of PStV seed transmission varied from less than 1 to 50% in the 935 peanut germ plasm lines tested. The majority had seed transmission rates ranging from 5 to 20%. Peanut cultivars and lines of the Spanish type showed higher seed transmission rates than those of other types. Several low seed transmission lines (less than 1% seed transmission) were obtained. PStV was detected in embryos of immature seeds at nearly the same percentage during pod development. Frequency of seed transmission varied according to the age of plants when they became infected. PStV transmission was higher in small than in large seeds.