Comparison of two barley yellow-dwarf viruses in glasshouse and field experiments

Comparisons were made of the host ranges, interactions in infected plants, and effects on yields of cereals of two isolates of barley yellow-dwarf virus, one avirulent, RV, obtained from Rothamsted farm (Watson & Mulligan, 1956) and the other virulent, KV, obtained from Kent. They resembled each other and the American yellow-dwarf viruses in their ability to infect wild grasses but differences were found when the infection tests were made using inbred lines of the same grass species. KV infected one variety each of rice, rye and maize, and caused symptoms in each. When plants were first infected with RV and later, when symptoms had fully developed, with KV, they suffered the same loss of yield from KV as did plants infected for the same length of time with KV alone. Therefore plants infected with RV were not protected against infection with KV. Similarly, aphids (Rhopalosiphum padi L.), fed first on sources of RV and then on KV, transmitted mainly KV so there was no evidence of protection in the insect vectors. Effects on yield of cereals were related to the time of appearance and intensity of symptoms. The effect of RV was not only less than that of KV but was also more variable.