Stewart's Wilt

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Stewart's Wilt
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Proteobacteria Class: Gamma Proteobacteria Order: Enterobacteriales Family: Enterobacteriaceae Genus: Pantoea
Binomial name
Pantoea stewartii (Smith 1898) Mergaert et al. 1993
Subspecies
P. s. subsp. stewartii P. s. subsp. indologenes
Synonyms
Pseudomonas stewarti (sic) Smith 1898 Bacterium stewarti (Smith 1898) Smith 1911 Aplanobacter stewarti (Smith 1898) McCulloch 1918 Phytomonas stewarti (Smith 1898) Bergey et al. 1923 Xanthomonas stewarti (Smith 1898) Dowson 1939 Pseudobacterium stewarti (Smith 1898) Krasil’nikov 1949 Erwinia stewartii (Smith 1898) Dye 1963

Stewart's Wilt is a bacterial disease of corn caused by the bacterium Pantoea stewartii affecting plants, particularly maize. Its primary vector is the corn flea beetle, (Chaetocnema pulicaria).

The bacterium lives in the gut of the beetle during the winter and is spread between plants when the beetle feeds on the seedlings. The bacterium can also be spread via the plant seed, but this is quite rare and its incidence is insignificant compared to insect transmission. Thus, survival of the insect vector through the winter months, especially in the north central U.S., is the key factor in development of the disease.

The disease manifests in two phases: seedling wilt, when the growing point dies; and leaf blight, white lesions on the leaves of older plants. Sweet corn is more susceptible than field corn.

One of the first forecasting systems designed was for Stewart's Wilt and was based on winter temperature index as low temperatures kill Chaetocnema pulicaria, preventing outbreak of the disease .^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ APS Education Centre - Stewart's wilt of corn