The Possible use of Alternating Temperatures for the Reduction of Viruses in Plant Tissue

Abstract

The many successes of heat as a cure for plant virus diseases (Nyland and Goheen 1969) have obscured a lack of information on the principles of heat therapy (Kassanis 1957). The use of low temperatures as a therapeutic measure (Selsky and Black 1962) has had little attention, and the apparent failure of alternating tempera-tures to reduce virus infections has limited another approach to heat therapy. Recent experiments with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and other viruses have shown the possible usefulness of alternating extremes of diurnal temperature, and have re-emphasized the need for more theoretical information on the reactions of virus-infected plant tissues to various temperature regimes.