Survival of Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus in Grass Hosts in Kansas from Wheat Harvest to Fall Wheat Emergence

Field samples of annual and perennial grasses were tested to determine which can be alternate hosts to wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and can survive and sustain the virus from wheat harvest to fall wheat emergence in Kansas. Sites sampled included Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) hectares, government set-aside fields, wheat stubble fields, and waterways. Samples were collected in August of 1988 and at four approximately monthly intervals in 1989 and were tested for the virus by indirect ELISA. None of the perennial grasses sampled were infected, but five annual grass species - Setaria viridis, S. taberi, Eriochloa contracta, Echinochloa crusgalli, and Panicum capillare - plus volunteer wheat were infected throughout this period (.)