Further Studies on Transmission of the Causal Agent of the Chlorotic-Streak Disease of Sugarcane

Abstract

Transmission of the causal agent of the chlorotic-streak disease of sugarcane was effected when diseased and healthy plants were grown together in white quartz sand with ample moisture. Several healthy plants developed symptoms of chlorotic streak when they were grown in soil obtained from around and beneath severely affected plants from the field. It was found that the causal agent of the chlorotic-streak disease of Napier grass is the same entity that causes the chlorotic-streak disease of sugarcane. Healthy sugarcane plants developed typical symptoms of chlorotic streak when grown together with affected Napier grass plants in nutrient solution. Unsuccessful attempts were made to infect healthy sugarcane plants by mechanical inoculation of their roots with extracts obtained from roots of affected plants.