Maize stripe disease in Australia

Abstract

Maize stripe disease occurs commonly in maize and sweet corn (Zea mays L.) crops of coastal Queensland. Other natural hosts include wild sorghum (S. verticilliflorum (Steud.) Stapf), Johnson grass (S. halepense (L.) Pers.), Sudan grass (S. sudanense (Piper) Stapf) and S. sudanense x S. bicolor hybrids. Additional experimental hosts were barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), rye (Secale cereale L.), triticale (x Triticosecale) and teosinte (Euchlaena mexicana Schrad.). After an incubation period of c. 10 days, Peregrinus maidis (Ashm.) transmitted the disease for up to 22 days. Minimum acquisition time was below 4 h, minimum transmission feed time less than 1 h and 24 % of individuals transmitted after 48 h acquisition. A purification procedure used chloroform clarification, polyethylene glycol precipitation and then a sucrose gradient separation in which two and sometimes three bands were located. A specific antiserum was produced and reacted like an East African antiserum. It produced two lines in gel-diffusion serology with partially purified preparations, one of which was confluent with the line from infective sap. No virus-like structures were consistently found in sap or thin sections of diseased plants or insects.