Disease Note.

First Report of Sugarcane Red Leaf Mottle Virus in Sudan. M. Chatenet, Centre de Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agron-omique pour le Developpement, Departement des Cultures Annuelles (CIRAD-CA), BP 5035, F34032 Montpellier Cedex 1, France. I. Saeed, Kenana Sugar Company, SCRD, PD 2632, Khartoum, Sudan. Plant Dis. 79:321. Accepted for publication 20 January 1995. Copyright 1995 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-0321B.

Sugarcane red leaf mottle (SCRLM), a disease of sugarcane (Saccharum L. interspecific hybrids) that has been observed in West Africa, is caused by the same virus that causes clump in peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) (I). Peanut Clump Virus (PCV) is a furovirus transmitted by the soil fungus Polymyxa graminis Ledingham. The fungus develops within the roots of several species of Gramineae but not within roots of peanuts although peanut is a host of the virus (2). That the fungus can subsist in the soil for several years is suggested by the fact that the disease was found in sugarcane in Senegal and Burkina Faso more than 5 yr after the last peanut crop in the same field. Symptoms similar to those described on sugarcane leaves in West Africa, i.e., reddening mottle surrounded by mild mosaic, diamond-shaped chlorotic spots, discolored stripes and streaks of varying thickness, were observed in 1993 in four different sugarcane estates in Sudan. Frequent symptoms were noticed but disease incidence and effect on yield are not determined yet. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) performed on nitrocellulose membranes, using extracts of ground leaves showing these symptoms, and the anti-SCRLM serum prepared from a sugarcane isolate at CIRAD-CA Monlpellier, detected the virus in the leaf. Positive results by ELISA provide an explanation of numerous unidentified symptoms. A kit developed at CIRAD is useful for detection of SCRLM in the field. This is the first report of sugarcane red leaf mottle virus in Sudan.