' iFarmlhjg, Friday,- June -7, 1957
Beltsville Plant Scientists Find
New Way to Detect Stripe Mosaie
Two new research weapons
against stripe-mosaic (false
disease of barley and
.wheat have been developed in
work at USDA’s Agricultural Ke
iseartShCenter, Beltsville, MtL
The weapons are simple, ’Casy
tto-do tests that identify plants in
jected with mild or latent strains
u>£ the seedbome virus. These
.tests provide a -practical and ef
fective method of selecting virus
ifree jfiants of commercial variet
ies for use in building-up supplies
<nf healthy crop seed for distribu
tion to growers.
Stripe-mosaic disease, ranging
feom mild to severe, is-widely dis
tributed in barleys throughout
the United States. Distribution in
wheat is not yet clearly known,
'but experiments with several
commercial varieties indicate that
milk forms of the disease may be
cutting yields more seriously than
has been supposed. In recent
-tests with Rushmorc wheat, for
an extremely mild strain
of the stripe-mosaic virus reduced
yields about 30 per cent. In
Pilot, infected with a natural
mixture of mostly very mild and
semivirulent strains, yield down
64 per cent.
Stripe-mosaic virus is the only
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QUARRYVILLE, PA.. '
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virus known to be carried in the
seed of a grass species. Since
there is no known method of kill
ing the virus in the seed, selec
tion of virus-free plants is the
only means of combatting this
important cereal disease.
Mild or latent strains of the
virus produce few or no visible
symptoms, even in highly sus
ceptible varieties of wheat and
barley. But scientists have- sus
pected for some time that a virus
is causing the progressively lower
'yields in certain areas planted to
particular varieties. Farmers say
the varieties are “running out’ 1 ,
bid there is mo sound genetic .ex
planation for the claim. It now
looks as if an answer to some of
these cases has been found in
symptomless strains of stripe*
mosaic virus.
•The new methods of detecting
plants carrying milk or latent
strains df the virus were devel
oped by ARS pathologist H. H.
McKinney. He describes them .as
“insurance against passing very
milk strains that do not come to
expression in our most sensiitve
tester plants.” In other words,
they are used as supplementary
tests in "routine indexing ofplants,
for freedom from the disease.
The only methods now avail
able for screening out these milk
viruses involve serological testing
or the use of an electron micro
scope. Both require highly skilled
scientists and expensive equip
ment all badly needed for more
fundamental studies.
McKinney’s tests the “block
ing test” and the “synergy test”
are so simple that any high
school graduate can learn to run
them under minimum supervi
sion.
McKinney and associates at
Beltsville have isolated virus-free
plants of several wheat and bar
ley varieties and are beginning to
increase seed for larger-scale.
field tests at cooperating State
-Record Food Grain 1 >
Carryover Predicted
The total Carryover of feed
grains into 1957-58 from this
year’s big supply is likely to be
around six million tons more
than the record 43 nlillion ‘tons
carried over. into 195857, accord
ing to the May 21-Feed Situation,
report of the Agricultural Mar
keting Service. -
13ie total supply of feed grains
and other concentrates available!
for the 1956-57 feeding year is'
now estimated at slightly over 400.
million tons, whicli is about four
.million tons more than in 1955-
56.
The current AMS report indi
cates, however, that total disap
pearance of feed concentrates
from this big supply will be
slightly smaller than in 1955-56*
mainly due to reduced exports.
agricultural experiment stations.
Compana and Wintex barley and
an Agropyron-wheat hybrid are*
among those screened so far.
The blocking test requires only
healthy tester <highly suscepti
ble) plants and a virulent strain
of stnpe-mosaic virus. The test
is based on McKinney’s discovery
that a barley or wheat plant in
fected with a mild form of the
•virus is immune to a severe form.
The milk virus blocks further in
fection by the virulent strain.
Thus, if a plant inoculated with
a virulent strain does not come
down with the disease, chances
are the plant was already infected
with a milk or latent strain.
All seedlings that show signs of
the disease are'removed from a
given lot, and the apparently
healthy ones are planted far
enough apart to prevent inter
plant contact. Since the object is
to obtain virus-free the
selected seedlings cannot be in
oculated directly. Instead, juice
is pressed from a sample leaf of
each plant and inoculated into
virus free tester seedlings of bar
ley or wheat. (Thorough sampling
is important because the virus
may not be present m all leaves
of a mildly infected plant.) After
10 days, if these inoculated seed
lings show no sign of the disease,
they are inoculated with a viru
lent strain of the virus.
If they still fail to react, the
virulent strain must have been
blocked by a mikL strain trans
mitted in the juice from the se
lected plant. The plant is there
fore considered a virus carrier
and is discarded.
On the other hand, if inocu
lated seedlings develop stripe
mosaic, no blocking has occurred.
The selected plant is considered
healthy and suitable for produc
ing virus-free seed.
The selected plants can be sam
pled and tested several times,
and the tester plants can be inoc
ulated with the virulent strain
at lesjst twice to detect possible
escapes.
The synergy test is a rather
radical departure from the coif
ventional concept- of screening
disease-free plants. It is based on
another McKinney discovery: that'
plants infected with both stripe
mosaic virus and brome-mosaic
virus produce accentuated reac-,
tions. That is, the two viruses
team up and pack a bigger wallop
than either can alone. So McKin
ney Used the brome virus to be
tray the stripe-mosaic into show
ing itself.
To run the test, brome-mosaic
virus is inoculated directly into
the selected plants. Those already
infected with milk or latent
stripe-mosaic virus -become se
verely stunted and show heavy
chlorotic markings on the leaves.
These phmts are virus carriers
and should be discarded.
A “milk” reaction indicates
that the plant is infected with the
brome virus only. Thus, these
plants are considered free of
strip'e-mosaic infection and good
for propagating purposes. (The
brome-mosaic virus is not seed
borne and will not affect subse
quent yields of grain.)
The synergy test requires less
time and work than the blocking
test and may prove to be more
practical, the Beltsville research
ers believe.
Is Better Fed
Than America
WASHINGTON Herschel D.
Newsom, Master of the National
Grange, bis pointed out that
Americans are not well fed com
pared with many sections of the
rest of the world.
Newsom said evidence of this
was that the U. S. stands 13th in
the per capita consumption of
milk and dairy products.
-Ireland leads the World in'the
per -person consumption of milk
and dairy products,-he said, with
an annual per capita consump
tion amounting to nearly 1,500
pounds. Five nations, namely,
New Zealand, Sweden. Australia,-
and Canada all consume over
1,000 pounds per capita per .year,
he pointed out, while the United
States figure stands at about 700
pounds..
Red meat consumption in this,
country, he said, is less than 175
pounds per person, placing it
fifth among the world’s family
of nations. Only in the field of
poultry meat, Newsom says, do
the people in our nation lead the
world. Average consumption of
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| farm Marketing Cash 11
Upfour Per Cent
Latest AMS figures on the de
mand and price situation show
that farmers received 8.4 bilion
dollars from farm marketings m
the hirst four months of 1957, up
three per cent from the same
months of 1956. Receipts from
livestock and livestock products,
at 5.3 billion dollars, were six per
months of 1956. Crop receipts
were 3 J billion dollars, about the
same as last year.
poultry meat in the U. S. is bet
ter than 35 pounds annually per
person, white' Canada, holding
second place has an average of
around 30 pounds. ',
Uruguay is the top red meat
eating country with a per capita
consumption of 232 a
year. Australia,, second, consum
es 288 pounds per person; JJew
Zealand, third, 192 pounds; Ar
gentina, fourth. 182 pounds.
Newsom said that “this is -evi
dence enough that farmers are
going to have to take a far more
active interest in self-help sales
promoting and merchandising
programs. We are in competition
with every other industry m the
country,” he said, “for the con
sumer’s dollar, and we are not
getting our share.”
n^fepV
Florin, Pennsylvania