Production of Peanut Seed Free of Peanut Stripe and Peanut Mottle Viruses in Florida. F. W. Zettler, Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Gainesville 32611-0513. M. S. Elliott, D. E. Purcifull, G. I. Mink, D. W. Gorbet, and D. A. Knauft. Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Gainesville 32611-0513; Plant Pathology Department, Washington State University, Prosser 99350; University of Florida, IFAS, North Florida Research and Education Center, Marianna 32446-9803; and Agronomy Department, University of Florida, IFAS, Gainesville 32611-0500. Plant Dis. 77:747-749. Accepted for publication 10 March 1993. Copyright 1993 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-77-0747.

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) seed free of both peanut stripe (PStV) and peanut mottle (PMoV) potyviruses were harvested in 1986–1990 from virus-indexed, greenhouse-grown plants for field propagation. Neither virus was detected in field plots sown in 1987 and 1989 with virus-indexed, greenhouse-grown seed and isolated by at least 5 km from any commercial or experimental plantings. PMoV, but not PStV, was detected in a similar field plot sown in 1988 and located about 1.5 km from a 128-ha commercial field. PStV was detected in 247 of 497 plants in an experimental breeder’s field sown in 1988–1991 with seed infected with this virus but was detected in only one of 1,431 plants in a similar field located 13 km away and sown with virus-indexed, greenhouse-grown seed. PStV was not detected in Sunrunner peanut plants derived from seed that were virus-indexed in 1985, sown in a greenhouse in 1986, and field-grown from 1987 to 1991.

Keyword(s): enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), groundnut, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) immunodiffusion serology.