Sugarcane Mosaic Distribution, Incidence, Increase, and Spatial Pattern in Louisiana

Sugarcane mosaic is a historically important disease in Louisiana currently caused by sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV). Successful breeding for resistance reduced the disease to low incidence in commercial cultivars. However, mosaic was detected in experimental clone evaluations at multiple locations, leading to uncertainty concerning the current distribution and incidence in the state. Field surveys were conducted from 2016 to 2018 in breeding program yield trials and experimental clone seed cane increase fields. Mosaic symptomatic plants were observed in a newly released cultivar, HoCP 09-804, in three of five production areas, with incidences ranging from 0 to 10%. Mosaic also was observed in nine additional experimental clones. Single leaf samples were tested for SrMV using reverse transcription PCR. All symptomatic samples and a low percentage (0.3%) of asymptomatic samples tested positive for SrMV, confirming that it continues to be the causal species. Runs analysis detected aggregation of infected plants within at least 70% of rows in 94% of surveyed fields. The spatial pattern and geographical distribution of disease incidence suggested that infected seed cane was the source of the disease. Surveys conducted in the same fields of HoCP 09-804 through two subsequent crops detected disease incidence increases in some fields and decreases in the others in first ratoon, but observed incidence was lower compared with plant cane in all fields in second ratoon. The results indicated that disease increase owing to aphid transmission did not occur under the prevailing conditions.