| Abstract: | Some experiments with soil-borne beet viruses in cement tubes in a wire netting enclosure are described. It is confirmed that rhizomania (virus + vector) originating from German soil can survive and cause rhizomania in Sweden. Antisera produced in 1987 to one German BNYVV isolate and to one Swedish soil-borne beet virus isolate, 86-109, which is distinct from BNYVV, were used to check ELISA reactions in the tube beets. Positive ELISA was obtained not only for BNYVV but also for the 86-109 virus from tubes with German inoculum. Beets from tubes with Swedish inoculum reacted only against 86-109 antiserum. In 1988-09, ELISA of 118 sugarbeet plants from Öland and 73 from Skåne, collected in 42 different fields with spots resembling rhizomania, showed no or weak reactions against 86-109 antiserum, in contrast to plants collected in 1987. However, after transplanting the field plants into a warm glasshouse and using bait plants it was shown in ELISA and in transmission to Chenopodium quinoa that many of the bait plants became infected with the 86-109 and ‘related viruses’ but not with BNYVV. Viruses of the 86-109 type seem to be common both in Sweden and elsewhere but may escape detection, especially in mixed infections with BNYVV. |
