Relationship between late-season severity of Stewart's bacterial wilt and seed infection in maize

Citation
Cc. Block et al., Relationship between late-season severity of Stewart's bacterial wilt and seed infection in maize, PLANT DIS, 83(6), 1999, pp. 527-530
Citations number
21
Categorie Soggetti
Plant Sciences
Journal title
PLANT DISEASE
ISSN journal
01912917 → ACNP
Volume
83
Issue
6
Year of publication
1999
Pages
527 - 530
Database
ISI
SICI code
0191-2917(199906)83:6<527:RBLSOS>2.0.ZU;2-Q
Abstract
The relationship between the amount of foliar disease on maize plants and s eed contamination by the causal bacterium, Pantoea stewartii, was studied b y comparing disease severity on adult plants with results from laboratory s eed tests. Seventy-seven naturally infected maize lines (25 in 1990 and 52 in 1992) were selected and assigned to one of six disease severity classes based on the percentage of ear leaf tissue killed by Stewart's wilt: trace to 2%, 6 to 14%, 25 to 34%, 35 to 49%, 50 to 74%, and 75 to 100%. Ears were harvested from 10 to 20 plants representative of the disease class for eac h maize line, and seeds were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (E LISA) of bulk-seed samples. Seed infection percentages were estimated from the bulk-test results by using statistical equations for group testing. The accuracy of the bulk-seed method for estimating seed infection was validat ed by comparison with 300-kernel single-seed tests. Infected seed was detec ted only from seed of plants with greater than or equal to 25% disease seve rity; however, 45 of 63 such seed lots had no infection. Three seed lots ha d >5% infected seeds, all from plants with >50% disease severity. The resul ts suggest a possible threshold level between 15 and 25% disease severity f or Stewart's wilt on leaves before bacteria are detected in seed. This stud y describes a relatively simple method for estimating the incidence of infe cted seeds in a seed lot and contributes additional evidence to indicate th at the chance of spreading P. stewartii from U.S.-produced maize seeds is l ow.