Rice Gall Dwarf, A New Virus Disease. T. Omura, Research Plant Pathologist, Institute for Plant Virus Research, Tsukuba Science City, Yatabe, Ibaraki 305, Japan. H. Inoue, Research Entomologist, Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station, Chikugo, Fukuoka 833, Japan; T. Morinaka, Research Plant Pathologist, Tropical Agriculture Research Center, Tsukuba Science City, Yatabe, Ibaraki 305, Japan; Y. Saito, Research Plant Pathologist, Institute for Plant Virus Research, Tsukuba Science City, Yatabe, Ibaraki 305, Japan; and D. Chettanachit, M. Putta, A. Parejarearn, and S. Disthaporn, Research Plant Pathologists, Rice Pathology Branch, Division of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Bangkhen, Bangkok, Thailand. Plant Dis. 64:795-797. Copyright 1980 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-64-795.

A previously undescribed virus disease was found on rice plants in central Thailand in 1979 and named rice gall dwarf. Symptoms consisted of gall formation along leaf blades and sheaths, dark green discoloration, twisted leaf tips, and reduced number of tillers. Some plants died in the greenhouse in later stages of infection. The causal agent was transmitted by the green rice leafhopper Nephotettix nigropictus after an incubation of about 2 wk. Polyhedral particles about 65 nm in diameter observed in the cytoplasm of phloem cells were always associated with the disease. No serologic relationship was found between the virus and rice dwarf virus.