A NEW DISEASE OF TULIP RESEMBLING AUGUSTA DISEASE*

W.P. Mowat
Tobacco necrosis virus could not be detected in many diseased tulip plants that showed leaf symptoms resembling Augusta disease. From some of these plants an agent was transmitted to other plant species by inoculation of sap. In Chenopodium quinoa a Willd. local necrotic lesions develop within 7 days after inoculation. In Nicotiana clevelandii Gray, local lesions appear in 7 and systemic symptoms in about 12 days. The disease associated with this pathogen in tulip was perpetuated in bulb sizes of up to 11 cm in circumference.

The pathogen survives treatment with di-ethyl ether and remains in the supernatant fluid after centrifugation at 9,000 g for 8 minutes, and therefore is probably a virus. It could not be routinely maintained in a glasshouse under summer conditions and is highly unstable in plant extracts. The reducing agent 2-mercaptoethanol preserves most of the infectivity of sap for about 1 hour.

Mowat, W.P. (1971). A NEW DISEASE OF TULIP RESEMBLING AUGUSTA DISEASE*. Acta Hortic. 23, 283-285
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1971.23.45
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1971.23.45

Acta Horticulturae