Barley yellow dwarf viruses in Japanese pasture grasses and lack of correlation with the presence of fungal endophytes

Abstract

Pasture grasses from temperate Japan were tested for infection with barley yellow dwarf viruses (BYDVs) and fungal endophytes. BYDVs from both the MAV and RPV subgroups were detected, but no symptoms attributable to BYDV infection were observed. Not all isolates from the MAV subgroup could be clearly discriminated as MAV or PAV solely on ELISA results, and may have been intermediate serotypes or mixed infections. BYDVs were found to infect fescue (Festuca arundinacea: 17%), ryegrass (Lolium perenne: 41%), timothy (Phleum pratense: 94%) and Poa spp. (20%). Fescue and ryegrass were predominantly infected with RPV and PAV, respectively. The small collections of Poa spp. were only infected with PAV, while timothy was only tested for MAV subgroup viruses. In fescue 26% of tillers were infected with Acremonium coenophialum, and 60% of ryegrass tillers from an ecotype collection were infected with Acremonium lolii. There was no correlation between BYDV infection and the presence of endophytes for the above species or for Epichloe typhina‐infected (50%) timothy. An ELISA test for A. lolii did not detect A. coenophialum in fescue or E. typhina in timothy but showed good agreement with epidermal staining of A. lolii in ryegrass leaf sheaths.