Pearl Millet Diseases
Viral Diseases

Guineagrass Mosaic Virus

Symptoms: Young diseased plants show lines of light green eyespots or a pale green mosaic, depending on the cultivar. Symptoms develop into a striped mosaic by elongation and coalescing of the eyespots. Some plants show severe symptoms plus dwarfing.

Pathogen and disease characteristics: This potyvirus is transmitted by aphids (Hysteroneura setariae and Rhopalosiphum maidis), probably nonpersistently, but it can be mechanically transmitted. Symptoms appear about 8 to 10 days after inoculation. Strain or host specificity may exist.

Host range: Pearl millet, Bromus commutatus, B. macrostachys, Panicum crus-galli, P. maximum, Sorghum aroundinaceum, Zea mays. Possibly Paspalum conjugatum, Brachiaria brizantha, B. decumbens, B. dictyoneura, B. humidicola, B. jubata, B. ruzizensis (Morales et al. 1994). Also Brachiaria deflexa, Bromus arvensis, B. racemosus, B. sterilis, Coix lacryma-jobi, Echinochloa crus-galli, Oplismenus hirtelus, Panicum bulbosum, P. miliaceum, Paspalum racemosum, Setaria glaucum, S. italica, S. macrochaeta, S. verticillata, Stenotaphrum secondatum (Thouvenel et al. 1976).

Geographic distribution: Ivory Coast (on pearl millet). Possibly Columbia and Brazil on other hosts (Morales et al. 1994).

Nomenclature discrepancies: None.

Seed transmission: Not known to be transmitted by seed.

Primary citation: Kukla et al. 1984.

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United States Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service

The material on this page is in the public domain.

Original posting: June 5, 1999.