Analysis of the occurrence and distribution of tobacco rattle virus in field soil and disease in a subsequent tulip crop

The occurrence and distribution of tobacco rattle virus (TRV) in field plots was determined by soil bait-testing and disease incidence in tulips subsequently grown on these plots was studied. The virus occurred in patches, calculated as 1.5 m × 3.6 m. The presence of virus was not correlated with numbers of potential vector trichodorid nematodes. Of three trichodorid nematode species present, only Paratrichodorus teres transmitted TRV which, as with virus isolates obtained in bait-tests and from infected tulips, reacted in serological tests with an antiserum prepared against a Dutch isolate of pea-early browning virus (PEBV). Virus prevalence in a subsequent tulip crop was 0.8% and in a sample of tulip plants, virus was recovered only from plants showing virus symptoms. Plots from which TRV was recovered in bait-tests yielded significantly more virus diseased tulips than plots which tested negative for virus. Growing bait-plants in field-plots, as compared with greenhouse tests using soil collected as a series of sub-samples, resulted in an underestimate of the occurrence of TRV.