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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » National Clonal Germplasm Repository » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #79110
Title: SELECT MALUS CLONES FOR RAPID DETECTION OF APPLE STEM GROOVING VIRUS

Author
item HOWELL, W. - WASHINGTON STATE UNIV
item MINK, G. - WASHINGTON STATE UNIV
item HURTT, SUZANNE - USDA-ARS
item FOSTER, J. - USDA-APHIS
item Postman, Joseph

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The currently recommended method to detect Apple Stem Grooving Virus (ASGV) in apple and pear trees involves grafting a piece of bark from a candidate tree onto a young Virginia Crab Apple tree and waiting for symptoms to develop. This may take 6-8 months, and is often not reliable because some known infected samples never produce symptoms on the Virginia Crab. A more esensitive virus indicator clone has been selected which produces symptoms in the greenhouse 4-6 weeks after inoculation. Malus micromalus clone GMAL-273 produces symptoms more consistently and more rapidly than Virginia Crab, and is superior as a woody indicator plant for ASGV.1

Technical Abstract: Highly sensitive, rapidly reacting woody plant indicator clones were found when 201 Malus clones were screened for response to apple stem grooving virus (ASGV). A clone of Malus micromalus displayed diagonostic foliage symptoms within 2-4 weeks of bud-inoculation in the greenhouse. This is in contrast to the 6-8 months that may be required to detect ASGV using the currently recommended indicator, Virginia Crab. When Virginia Crab an three Malus selections were screened with 10 ASGV isolates from diverse geographic origins, foliar symptoms were produced most consistently on M. micromalus GMAL 273a and least consistently on Virginia Crab. M. micromalus GMAL 273a is superior to Virginia Crab as a rapid woody indicator plant for ASGV.