Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus: Distribution, Alternative Hosts, Transmission Mechanisms and Management Options

Plant virus diseases are serious constraints to the productivity and profitability of a wide range of crops. Epidemics of existing plant virus diseases and the emergence of novel virus diseases have become a serious threat to subsistence and commercial agriculture. The knowledge of virus transmission and its survival helps to understand how the disease transmits from infected plant to healthy, where it reserved, and this will lead to identify the most important variables and focus efforts to develop sustainable management strategies. Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) is transmitted from location to location, and from plant to plant through various mechanisms (mechanically, seed, insect vectors, and soil) and many wild types of grass and cultivated crops, MCMV infected maize residue are used as its reservoirs. Different weed species and cultivated plants used as alternate hosts, and soil and seed transmissibility of MCMV are epidemiologically important and contribute to maintaining virus inoculum available in the absence of maize in the field and increase the chances of continuing its survival. Integrated disease management approach, regular field monitoring, assessment of virus symptoms, and rouging-out diseased plants are recommended to prevent further spread by insect vectors. Apart from this, because the disease is still widespread in various countries, intensive MCMV recruitment, combined with integrated disease management, requires ongoing practice in countries where MCMV is prevalent and in those countries that have not yet reported MCMV. Keywords: Integrated management; Insect vector; plant residue; Soil transmission; Zea mays DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-19-04 Publication date:October 31st 202