Dissemination and detection of peanut clump virus in groundnut seed

Experiments were done to assess the role of seed-transmission in the dissemination of peanut clump virus (PCV) in groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.), and the usefulness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting the virus in infected groundnut seed. The virus was present in 7.5% of seedling progeny from infected plants and could be detected in 16.5% of the seeds by ELISA. When groundnut seeds were grown in a field contaminated by the virus, it was shown that by roguing the infected plants, only 0.1% of the seeds from the remaining plants contained the virus. It was also established that the level of contamination of seeds by the virus was inversely proportional to the seed size.