APS Homepage
Back


POSTERS: Virology

Known viruses infecting wheat in Oklahoma
Akhtar Ali - Univ of Tulsa.

Wheat is one of the important crops in Oklahoma. Before the initiation of this work, no detailed information existed about viruses of wheat in the state. Therefore, a state-wide survey was conducted to determine which known viruses infect wheat crops in Oklahoma during 2015 and 2016 growing seasons. Approximately 100 growers wheat fields located in 33 counties of the eight main wheat growing districts of the state were surveyed for virus infection. More than 1,000 leaf samples were collected from wheat and weed plants and were tested serologically using dot-immuno-binding assay (DIBA) against the antisera of 15 viruses. The results showed that 10 out of 15 viruses were detected in wheat fields. The highest average incidence was recorded for BaMMV (55.9%) followed by WSMV (44.06%), BYDV-PAV (12.6%), BYDV-RPV (7.9%) and HPV (2.09%). The remaining five viruses (BaYMV, BYDV-MAV, SBWMV, JGMV and MCMV) were detected in less than 2% of the samples tested. Mixed infection of two or more than two viruses was also observed in some counties. Two of the 10 detected viruses were new in Oklahoma and were never reported previously. In addition, virus infection in weeds species naturally grown in wheat fields and heavy aphid’s infestation will also be discussed.