Distribution of sugarcane bacilliform virus in various geographical regions
1995
Autrey, L.J.C. | Boolell, S. | Jones, P. (Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Inst.)
Sugarcane bacilliform virus (SCBV) has been identified in a large number of clones including noble canes and interspecific hybrids in 11 countries, namely Australia, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Reunion, South Africa, Taiwan and the USA and in quarantine in clones from Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, and Puerto Rico. Based on these findings and reports from other sources, it has become evident that SCBV occurs in sugarcane in all important geographical regions and its distribution as a virus pathogen in that crop is only surpassed by that of sugarcane mosaic virus. The disease has become widely distributed as it has gone undetected, being latent in certain clones while in others, especially noble canes, its symptoms which have not yet been fully established, may have been overlooked as being of genetical origin or have been masked by other diseases like sugarcane mosaic virus. It is postulated that the virus infected sugarcane in its center of origin in Papua New Guinea for Saccharum officinarum and has spread to various sugarcane cultivating areas with movement of germplasm, especially by noble canes. Further dissemination has been made by its vector, the pink mealybug Saccharicoccus sacchari, which is of cosmopolitan occurrence in sugarcane. The need for novel diagnostic tools such as DNA probes and monoclonal antibodies to circumvent the shortcomings of methods of diagnosis presently in use such as ELISA and immune electron microscopy is emphasized. Pending the determination of the exact geographical distribution of SCBV, research work to evaluate its economic importance and its role in the decline of noble canes is advocated.
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