Pests and Diseases
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Browsing Pests and Diseases by Author "Audrie, K.H."
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Item Transfer of resistance to the Streak Virus into East African Maize(1967) Audrie, K.H. ; Storey, H.H.; E.A.A.F.R.O., Kikuyu, KenyaStreak disease is caused by infection with a virus that is prevalent in maize and some grasses in many parts of Africa. It has been frequently described (eg Storey, 1925; McClean, 1947); typically it results in leaves developing with a nearly uniform pattern of chlorotic and green areas; in its most severe form some half or more of the total leaf area may be chlorotic, and in this form the disease causes a marked reduction in the growth and productivity of the plant. Because the virus is transmissible only by a specific insect vector of the genus Cicadulina (Storey, loc. cit.) and by no other known means, prevalence of the disease in the field is dependent not only on the presence of the virus but also on the frequency with which the vector occurs. In consequence, outbreaks of streak disease may vary from season to season and from place to place. Nevertheless, in aggregate the disease can cause large losses in productivity of maize; and a search for resistant maize types is justified. Glasshouse studies of streak resistance in maize have been prosecuted over a number of years at EAAFRO That this resistance existed had been recognized in the early thirties in South Africa, but owing to difficulties inherent in studies of this problem under field conditions, research workers there had been unable to arrive at any hypothesis for the manner in which resistance was inherited (Rose 1938; Gorter, 1959). The purpose of the work at EAAFRO was to see whether a genetic hypothesis would emerge from studies carried out under the more exact, more reliable and more rapid conditions provided by
