Epidemiology of potato leaf roll virus in the Fraser River delta of British Columbia

Abstract

The spread of potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) and the resulting phloem necrosis in the tubers has been a limiting factor in the production of the Netted Gem (Russet Burbank) variety in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Steckling sugar beets are an important overwintering host for nymphs and adults of the green peach aphid,Myzus persicae (Sulzer). By June, aphids are widely disseminated to the florets and new leaves of sugar beet and other hosts, including potato. Colonies with alates are produced on summer hosts which are not treated with insecticides. The peak of the flight of alates from the colonies on the summer hosts occurs during the first half of August. Those alates that were produced on PLRV-infected potato and which travel to other potatoes transmit the virus as soon as they feed. By the end of August, the sugar beet seed crops and the early and mid-season potato crops have been defoliated or harvested. Thus many colonies ofM. persicae are destroyed and the threat of PLRV spread diminishes. Crop and weed plants which serve as overwintering hosts become infested during late summer with alate aphids. Their offspring survive the winter in numbers which are determined by the weather and survival of host plants.