Tomato spotted wilt virus, the cause of bud necrosis of peanut, was transmitted by Scirtothrips dorsalis and Frankliniella schultzei. S. dorsalis is a new vector of the virus, but it is a less efficient vector than F. schultzei. Hemagglutination tests detected viral antigens in extracts from both thrips speSesexppsSa to ihffctedleavesT B ud necrosis is p ro b a b ly the m ost i m p o r t a n t v ir a l d is e a s e o f p e a n u t (A rachis hypogaea L.) in India (3,6). U ntil 1977, the v ecto r was unknow n,, a lth o u g h several insects including A p h is craccivora K och, E m poasca devastans Stal, O rosius spp., Bem isia tabaci G enn., and Tetranychus spp. h ad been tested (8,11,12,16, A m in unpublished).Initial investigations a t the International C rops R esearch In stitu te fo r th e Sem i-A rid T ropics research center show ed th a t th rip s w ere the m ost com m on insect pests a t the tim e o f disease developm ent, b o th d u rin g an d after rainy seasons (A m in, unpublished). Recently, the disease was show n to be caused by to m a to sp o tted w ilt virus (T SW V ), w hich is tran sm itte d by th rip s (6,14). T he m o st a b u n d a n t th rip s on p e a n u ts in H y d e ra b a d are
S c i r t o t h r i p s d o r s a l i s H o o d a n d F r a n k l i n i e l l a s c h u l t z e i ( T r y b o m ), and p relim in ary tests show ed th a t the fo rm er tran sm its the causal virus o f bud necrosis (1).Approved as IC R 1SA T jo u rn al article 142.Accepted fo r publication 25 N ovember 1980.0191 -2917/81/08066303/$03.00/0 ®1981 Am erican P hytopathological S o ciety T his p a p er describes fu rth e r research o n the tran sm issio n o f T SW V by S. dorsalis, on the role o f F. sch u ltzei as a n o th e r vector, an d on the ap p licatio n of the h e m ag g lu tin atio n technique to detect viral antigen in th rip s,
M A T E R IA L S A N D M E T H O D SP e a n u t (cv. TM V -2) p lan ts infected by sa p i n o c u l a ti o n (5) w e re u se d f o r a cq u isitio n feeding tests. In prelim inary ex p erim en ts, term in al leaves o f infected p lan ts were the best source o f inociilum . P e a n u t seedlings in th e second q u ad rifoliate stage were used as test plants in' early experim ents, b u t u rd bean-, ( Vigna m u n g o L. cv. U P U r l ) w as la te r su b stitu te d fo r p e a n u t since it was m ore susceptible an d show ed sym ptom s in 15-20 days co m p ared w ith 30-40 days fo r pean u t.V irus-free colonies were in itiated from 5-10 a d u lt th rip s collected in th e field and ra is e d o n p e a n u t p la n t s . A p e a n u t seedling, w ith the ro o ts rem oved, was placed in a screw -capped 500-ml plastic ja r contain in g w ater an d th e n enclosed in a la n te rn globe. Five to ten th rip s were released in to each cage a n d allow ed to o v iposit fo r 24 h r. T he new ly hatch ed nym phs were tran sfe rred to a new set of h e a lth y p e a n u ts e n c lo s e d in la n te r n ' globes. A glass funnel w ith a sm all glass vial (3 X 1 cm ) in serted in its stem was a tta ch...