Longidorus breviannulatus as a Vector for Brome Mosaic Virus.

Longidorus breviannulatus N o r t o n & Hoffmann, 1975 was described from corn in Iowa. Brome mosaic virus (BMV) was initially isolated in the Great Plains area of the United States from perennial brome grass, Bromus inermis. Infrequent localized outbreaks of BMV in barley were believed to result from mechanical inoculation by farm machinery moving across infected brome grass and into barley fields (3). L. breviannulatus and BMV have several host plants in common, such as barley (Hordeum vulgare), corn (Zea mays), and Kentucky blue grass (Poa pratensis). The habitats of these two pathogens seem to coincide geographically. If L. breviannulatus is a vector for BMV, then the potential for serious outbreaks of BMV is present. Our objective was to investigate L. breviannulatus as a vector for brome mosaic virus. Since L. breviannulatus was to be placed on mechanically infected barley to acquire the virus, the relative concentration of BMV in barley root tissue was determined 1-10 days after mechanical inoculation of the leaves. Sixty 1-week-old barley seedlings, ge rmina ted in vermicul i te , were transplanted, one plant per pot, into 10-