Population dynamics of the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus Dahlb. and two-year investigations into the occurrence of Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) in crops of winter barley located in the Middle German Dry Region, Germany

Abstract

From 2000 to 2001 the population dynamics of Psammotettix alienus Dahlb. were recorded using a sweep-net or a biocoenometer. The investigations were carried out in Zscherben near Halle (Middle German Dry Region). The imagines of the first generation of P. alienus could be observed for the first time at the beginning of May (2000) and at the end of May (2001), respectively. According to our results, in this area three generations of P. alienus are developed. In both years of our observations the barley-strain of Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) occurred. The main important infections appeared in autumn. Furthermore, during the whole period of our investigations the percentage of viruliferous individuals which were caught was recorded by means of a biological test. In June this percentage achieved 84.0% (2000) and 76.7% (2001), respectively. In the course of summer months of both years the percentage of viruliferous P. alienus decreased. In autumn of the year 2000 an increasing portion followed once again. However, in the year 2001 a continual reduction from > 70% in June to < 5% in late autumn could be observed.

Journal of Plant Protection Research

“…Information about viruliferous insects in local fields is very important for forecasting outbreaks of the wheat dwarf disease. In the literature both the classical transmission test (Mehner et al 2003;Manurung et al 2004) as well different molecular diagnostic techniques (Commandeur and Huth 1999;Schubert et al 2007;Gadiou et al 2012) have been described to determine the infectivity of the vector.…”

Asymmetric interactions between barley yellow dwarf virus -PAV and wheat dwarf virus in wheat

“…The abundance and the population dynamics of this aphid species have been shown to predict YDD risk ( Fabre et al., 2003a ). The leafhopper P. alienus , the vector of WDV, is observed in winter cereal fields from sowing to the end of the year when temperatures are cold ( Mehner et al., 2002 ). It has been shown that the abundance R. padi and P. alienus and the proportion of viruliferous individuals vary with space and time and are linked to the composition of the agroecosystem ( Östman et al., 2001 ; Lindblad and Arenö, 2002 ; Mehner et al., 2002 ; Fabre et al., 2005 ).…”

The Past, Present, and Future of Wheat Dwarf Virus Management—A Review

“…The host range of WDV includes mainly monocotyledonous plants [37,142]. In addition to a variety of members of the Poaceae family, including important cereals such as wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), rye (Secale cereale L.), oats (Avena sativa), and triticale [11,13,143], WDV also infects various wild and cultivated grasses, including Bromus secalinus L., Lolium multiflorum Lam. [13], Avena fatua L., B. inermis Leyss., B. tectorum L., H. murinum L., L. perenne L., L. temulentum L. [144], A. sterilis L., A. strigosa Schreb., Poa annua L. [103], L. remotum Schrk., Lagurus ovatus L. [145], and Apera spica-venti (L.) P. beauv.…”

“…These include wheat dwarf virus (WDV, family Geminiviridae, genus Mastrevirusas the causal agent of wheat dwarf disease (WDD). The virus is transmitted from plant to plant exclusively by leafhoppers [10][11][12]. The first occurrence was described in the former Czechoslovakia [10], followed by subsequent outbreaks in the 1990s [13][14][15][16].…”