Disease Note.

Viruses Affecting Running Buffalo Clover, Trifolium stoloniferum . O. P. Sehgal, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211. L. Payne, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211. Plant Dis. 79:320. Accepted for publication 27 January 1995. Copyright 1995 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-0320D.

Trifolium stoloniferum Muhl ex A. Eaton was designated as an endangered species in the U.S. in 1987. There exists much interest in protecting it either through management of extant populations or by establishing new populations. In a lest planting maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation, several T. stoloniferum plants showed mottle and stunting symptoms. Two sap-transmissible viruses were recovered from these plants. One of these viruses was confirmed as a cucumovirus based on host range, shape, molecular weight of coat protein subunit, genome composition, and serology. In Ouchterlony double diffusion tests, one precipilin band developed between this virus isolate and antisera to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) strains S or D. while two hands formed with antiserum to peanut stunt virus. The precipitin bands formed between T. stoloniferum cucumovirus and antisera to CMV strains S and D were confluent with one of the two precipitin bands developed with peanut stunt virus antiserum. No precipitin reaction was detected between this virus and antiserum to tomato aspermy virus The second T. stoloniferum virus was tentatively identified as a comovirus. In gel diffusion tests it reacted strongly with antisera to quail pea mosaic virus (homologous reaction) and bean pod mottle virus (heterologus reaction), but not with antisera to cowpea mosaic virus or squash mosaic virus. This virus isolate induced markedly different symtoms on several legumes and possessed a host range that was considerably different from that of bean pod mottle or quailpea mosaic viruses. With the exception of an unpublished observation of peanut stunt virus infection (1), there are no reports of the occurrence of viruses in T. stoloniferum.