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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Canal Point, Florida » Sugarcane Field Station » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #76434

Title: OUTBREAK OF SUGARCANE MOSAIC IN COMMERCIAL SUGARCANE CULTIVAR, CP 72-2086, IN FLORIDA

Author
item Comstock, Jack
item MIRKOV, T - TEXAS A&M AGRIC. EXP. STA

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/9/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: This paper reports an outbreak of sugarcane mosaic stain E on sugarcane cultivar, CP 72-2086, which occupies 15.5% commercial acreage in Florida. Because of the appearance of sugarcane mosaic the acreage of CP 72-2086 will decrease resulting in a loss of a major commercial cultivar. The mosaic outbreak emphasizes the difficulty in controlling sugarcane diseases and the importance of developing adequate resistance for disease control.

Technical Abstract: In May 1996, an outbreak of sugarcane mosaic (SCMV) was detected in Florida affecting the major commercial cultivar, CP 72-2086, of sugarcane (hybrids of Saccharum spp.). Identification was confirmed by ELISA using SCMV antisera (ATCC# PVAS 115), and using RT-PCR. The strain of SCMV was identified as E using a RT- PCR based RFLP analysis. Although SCMV strain E has occurred in Florida for many decades, it had been confined to limited acreage primarily on S. officinarum clones and an occasional susceptible sugarcane clone at the Sugarcane Field Station in Canal Point, and to various weeds throughout the sugarcane industry. CP 72- 2086 plus seven other sugarcane cultivars and 10 sorghum cultivars reacted similarly in inoculation tests to the isolate of SCMV found recently on CP 72-2086 and an isolate of SCMV collected in 1986. CP 72-2086 was released in 1982 and previously was free of the disease; presently as the second most widely grown cultivar, it occupies 15.5% of the commercial acreage in Florida. The epicenter of infection was located 7 miles southeast of Canal Point where over 50% of CP 72-2086 plants had SCMV symptoms; the incidence of mosaic decreased from this location. No SCMV was observed in the western area of the industry, west of South Bay, FL.