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Transmission of Pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus by the Eriophyid Mite, Aceria cajani (Acari: Arthropoda)

December 2002 , Volume 86 , Number  12
Pages  1,297 - 1,302

N. K. Kulkarni and P. Lava Kumar , International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, India ; V. Muniyappa , Department of Plant Pathology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore 560 024, India ; A. Teifion Jones , Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie DD2 5DA, Scotland, United Kingdom ; and D. V. R. Reddy , ICRISAT, India



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Accepted for publication 8 July 2002.
ABSTRACT

The transmission characteristics of Pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus (PPSMV) to pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) by its eriophyid mite vector, Aceria cajani, were studied. Nonviruliferous A. cajani colonies were established on detached healthy leaflets of a PPSMV-immune pigeon pea cultivar floating on water. The transmission efficiency of single A. cajani was up to 53% but was 100% when >5 mites per plant were used. A. cajani acquired PPSMV after a minimum acquisition access period (AAP) of 15 min and inoculated virus after a minimum inoculation access period (IAP) of 90 min. No latent period was observed. Starvation of A. cajani prior to, or following, PPSMV acquisition reduced the minimum AAP and IAP periods to 10 min and 60 min, respectively, and mites retained virus for up to 13 h. None of the mites that developed from eggs taken from PPSMV-infected leaves transmitted the virus, indicating that it is not transmitted transovarially. Taken together, these data suggest a semipersistent mode of transmission of PPSMV by A. cajani.


Additional keywords: sterility mosaic disease, virus transmission

The American Phytopathological Society, 2002