Disease Note.

First Report of Banana Streak Virus Infecting Plantains (Musa spp.) in Colombia. H. Reichel, Corporacion Colombiana de Investigacion Agropecuaria, COR-POICA, AA. 240142 - Las Palmas, Santafe'de Bogota, Colombia . S. Belalcazar, G. Munera, E. AreValo, and J. Narvaez. Corporaci6n Colombiana de Investigaci6n Agropecuaria, COR-POICA, AA. 240142 - Las Palmas, Santafe'de Bogota, Colombia. Plant Dis. 80:463. Accepted for publication 20 February 1996. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-80-0463D.

Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are of great social and economic importance in Colombia. They are a major component of the Colombian diet and a major source of foreign exchange income. Colombia is Ihe fourth largest exporter of bananas. In November of 1995, in the localities of Andes, Venecia, Hispania, Tebaida, and Montenegro of Antioquia and Quindio, leaves of the plantain cultivar Dominico-Harton (AAB) were seen with chlorotic to necrotic streaking, symptoms characteristic of banana streak disease (1). Symptoms sometimes included swelling at the base of the pseudostem. The foliar tissue of 42 symptomatic plants of Dominico-Harton were tested for banana streak badnavirus (BSV) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) by double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) with commercial polyclonal antisera (Agdia Inc., Elkhart, IN). Sixty percent of the plants were found to be infected by BSV, 31% by CMV, and 29% were simultaneously infected by both viruses, as detected by DAS-ELISA. Immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM) analysis of BSV infected foliar tissue of cv. Dominico-Harton indicated the presence of viral bacilliform particles of approximately 110 x 30 nm. This is the first report of BSV infecting Musa spp. in Colombia.