A cereal-infecting virus from orchardgrass.

Extracts of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata) leaves showing mosaic symptoms in Frelighsburg, Quebec, were manually inoculated to wheat, oats, and barley, all of which developed similar symptoms. A few symptomatic orchardgrass leaves collected in Ste. Anne de Bellevue were infested with Aceria tulipae, an eriophyid mite vector of some viruses. Flexuous rod-shaped particles typical of other known grass viruses were associated with symptoms in experimentally infected barley and wheat, but the host range of the virus from orchardgrass, designated provisionally as "Orchardgrass mosaiic virus" ('OGMV'), differentiated it from most of the other well-known grass viruses. Oat cultivars recommended for production developed fairly severe symptoms after inoculation, while symptoms were more moderate on spring and winter wheat cultivars.