Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) exhibiting strong mosaic symptoms and leaf deformations were found in Brookings County during the summers of 1994 and 1995. Four isolates were mechanically transmitted to C. pepo cv. Early Prolific Straightneck. Ouchterlony double diffusion tests (conducted both in Arkansas and South Dakota) and protein-A enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) with squash mosaic virus (SqMV) antisera provided by R. C. Gergerich were positive for SqMV. Pumpkin mosaic virus, a strain of SqMV, was previously reported infecting pumpkin in South Dakota (1). The pumpkin strain was differentiated from other strains of SqMV by its ability to infect lentil (Lens esculenta Moench), garden pea (Pisum sativum L.), and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.). The South Dakota isolates in this study did not infect these hosts, although the Arkansas isolate was found to infect Pisum sativum cvs. Little Marvel and Dwarf Gray Sugar Pod when tested serologically. The presence of adult Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardii Barber and D. barberi (Smith and Lawrence) was noted on infected plants in the area. Transmission tests were conducted with D. barberi provided by the USDA-ARS Northern Grain Insect Research Laboratory, Brookings, SD. The beetles had been previously reared on artificial diet media and germinated corn seed. Individual beetles were given a 48-h acquisition access period on infected or healthy detached squash leaves in petri dishes followed by a 48-h inoculation access period on Early Prolific Straightneck squash plants (1 beetle per plant). Beetles were removed at the end of this period, and the plants were grown under greenhouse conditions for 3 weeks. Plants were assayed for SqMV by protein-A ELISA. Transmission percentages of SqMV were as follows: SqMV (Arkansas isolate), 16.7%; and four South Dakota isolates, 12.5, 11.4, 14.6, and 5.1%. Beetles fed on healthy plants did not transmit virus. The rate of transmission found in this study indicates that D. barbari serves as an efficient vector for the transmission of SqMV in field plantings.
Reference: (1) W. N. Stoner. Proc. S. D. Acad. Sci. 56:178, 1977.
