Seed-Transmitted Wheat Mosaic Virus in Sweet Corn in Utah

Wheat mosaic virus (WMoV) (syn. High Plains virus) was first observed in corn in 1993 in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and Texas (Seifers et al. 1997). The virus causes chlorotic streaks and mosaic on corn foliage, and it stunts ear development. When infected early in the season, plants frequently die. There are anecdotal reports of reduced seed germination rates in infected seed lots. The host range of the virus includes corn, small grains, and yellow and green foxtail. The virus is transmitted by the wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella Keifer 1969). Seed transmission of WMoV at extremely low rates was demonstrated in sweet corn in greenhouse grow-out tests by Forster et al. (2001), but due to the low transmission rate of three seedlings out of \u3e38,000 tested, this mode of transmission was considered to be negligible