Symptomless Infection and Incidence of Maize White Line Mosaic

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Abstract
Symptomless infections in sweet corn (Zea mays) from 3 field plantings with a history of maize white line mosaic (MWLM) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for the virus. Symptomless infections were detected similarly in 2 of 3 fields where MWLM was not previously found. The numbers of plants with symptomless infections in a sample of 15 consecutive plants within a row were 13/15, 11/15 and 7/15, and 4/15, 1/15 and 0/15 for 3 fields with and without a history of MWLM, respectively. Two plants with characteristic symptoms of MWLM were included in samples from each field with a known history of MWLM and were positive for maize white line mosaic virus (MWLMV) infection in ELISA. In experimental plantings, symptomless infections were detected by ELISA in root samples as early as 10 days after planting (DAP) and 100% were assayed positive by 55 DAP in 2 of 4 plantings. Symptomless shoot infections (.apprx. 13%), based on ELISA of leaf samples, were detected by 40 DAP in the same 2 plantings. Disease incidences based on symptoms were low (< 10%) for all planting dates except the 3rd planting, where it reached .apprx. 20% level. Infections apparently were more dependent on the time of season at which the plants were growing than on plant age. Detection of symptomless infection in plants and observations of plants with characteristic symptoms indicate that symptom development depends on some factor in addition to MWLMV infections.

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