Disease Notea

First Report of Polymyxa graminis in India. B. L. Nolt, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru P.O. 502 324, A.P. India. D. V. R. Reddy, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru P.O. 502 324, A.P. India. Plant Dis. 69:542. Accepted for publication 22 February 1985. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-69-542a.

Polymyxa graminis Led. was observed in the roots of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) but not peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) grown in soil from fields infested with Indian peanut clump virus (IPCV). Roots were stained by boiling in a lactophenol acid–fuchsin solution. The fungus was identified as P. graminis on the basis of host range, morphology of cystosori and sporangia, and size of individual resting spores (4–5 μm diam). This is the first report of P. graminis from India. P. graminis was consistently isolated from IPCV-infested soils and was also occasionally found in peanut fields not infested with IPCV and in fields with a long cropping history in cereal grains. The possible role of P. graminis in the transmission of IPCV to peanut requires furthur investigation.