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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Canal Point, Florida » Sugarcane Field Station » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #387585
Research Project: Identification of Resistant Germplasm and Markers Associated with Resistance to Major Diseases of Sugarcane

Location: Sugarcane Field Station

Title: Survey of Sugarcane yellow leaf virus in Canal Point breeding and cultivar development program

Author
item Sood, Sushma
item DAVIDSON, WAYNE - Florida Sugarcane League
item BALTAZAR, MIGUEL - Florida Sugarcane League

Submitted to: Agronomy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2021
Publication Date: 9/28/2021
Citation: Sood, S.G., Davidson, W.R., Baltazar, M. 2021. Survey of Sugarcane yellow leaf virus in Canal Point breeding and cultivar development program. Agronomy. 11(10):1948. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11101948.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11101948

Interpretive Summary: Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV) causes yellow leaf disease in most sugarcane growing areas worldwide. Yield losses in susceptible varieties both symptomatic and asymptomatic have been reported from several countries. A majority of the SCYLV infected varieties at Canal Point (CP) and other sugarcane growing areas in Florida are asymptomatic. In this study, a total of 1,195 varieties in the CP breeding nursery were screened for SCYLV. The varieties in primary and secondary seed increases of the CP cultivar development program were also tested for SCYLV infection from 2015 to 2019. The presence of SCYLV in sugarcane leaves was detected by the tissue-blot immunoassay using polyclonal antibodies raised against SCYLV. More than 32% varieties in the CP breeding nursery were infected with SCYLV in 2016. The SCYLV data of primary and secondary seedcane increases from 2015 to 2019 showed that out of 54 varieties screened at different locations 12 varieties had no SCYLV positive plants, other varieties had 5% to 75% of the plants infected with SCYLV.

Technical Abstract: Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV), a Polerovirus in the family Luteoviridea, causes yellow leaf disease (YLD). Yield losses from YLD have been reported from several countries in both symptomatic and asymptomatic sugarcane cultivars. The breeding nursery at Canal Point (CP) in 2016 and primary and secondary seed increases in the CP cultivar development program at grower’s farm from 2015 to 2019 were surveyed for SCYLV infection by the tissue-blot immunoassay using polyclonal antibodies raised against SCYLV. More than 32% of varieties in the CP breeding nursery were infected with SCYLV in 2016. The SCYLV data of primary and secondary seedcane increases from 2015 to 2019 showed that out of 54 varieties screened at different locations, 12 had no SCYLV-positive plants, 24 had less than 5%, 5 had 6% to 12%, and 13 had 20% to 75% of the plants infected with SCYLV. The SCYLV screenings in varieties in the primary and secondary seed increase plantings provide growers an opportunity to acquire virus-free clean seedcane by apical meristem propagation to minimize the spread of the SCYLV and avoid yield losses.