Factors of influencing elisa evaluation of transmission of pea seed borne mosaic virus in infected pea seed seed group size and seed decortication
Maury, Y.; Bossennec J M.; Boudazin, G.; Hampton, R.; Pietersen, G.; Maguire, J.
Agronomie 7(4): 225-230
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0249-5627 Accession: 005442787
The present work on group testing describes the reliable detection by ELISA of pea seed-borne mosaic virus (PSbMV) in pea seed lots. In the cultivars studied, the percentage of embryos that were ELISA-positive was correlated with the percentage of seed transmission. But unlike the seed-borne lettuce mosaic virus/lettuce and soybean mosaic virus/soybean systems, when whole pea seed was blended, the assays for PSbMV-infected seed in the experimental lot greatly overestimated the known percentage of seed transmission, due to the extraction of non-seed-transmissible virus from the seed coats. The removal of seed coats thus becomes imperative and a promising mechanical procedure is proposed for routine application. Before grouping embryos, the maximum size of a group can be determined on the basis of the variation in PSbMV titer among about 20 infected embryos of a given cultivar. In case of pea cv. Amino, the embryo with the lowest virus titer could be detected when mixed with a maximum of 100 healthy embryos. In case of pea cv. Arpad the group size limit proposed is 60 embryos. This limit thus vary among cultivars and antisera; a workable limit should therefore be determined for routine use.