Citation: Grisham, M.P., Johnson, R.M., Zimba, P.V. 2010. Detecting sugarcane yellow leaf virus in asymptomatic sugarcane leaves with hyperspectral remote sensing and associated leaf pigment changes. Phytopathology. 100:S43.
Technical Abstract: Sugarcane yellow leaf caused by Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV) does not produce visual symptoms in most susceptible sugarcane plants until late in the growing season. High-resolution, hyperspectral reflectance data from SCYLV-infected and non-infected leaves of two cultivars, LCP 85-384 and Ho 95-988, were measured and analyzed on 13 July, 12 October, and 4 November 2005. Infection was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Results from discriminant analysis showed that leaf reflectance was effective at predicting SCYLV infection in 73% of the cases in both cultivars using resubstitution and 63% and 62% in LCP 85-384 and Ho 95-988, respectively, using cross validation. Leaf pigments were extracted from leaf samples collected on 12 October and analyzed for chlorophylls and carotenoids concentrations. SCYLV infection influenced the concentration of several of the plant pigments including violaxanthin and beta carotene. Pigment data was effective at predicting SCYLV infection in 80% of the samples in the combined data set using the derived discriminant function with resubstitution, and 71 % with cross validation. Developing technology to remotely detect SCYLV infections without a laboratory-based diagnostic technique would provide an efficient method to insure that seed cane is free of the SCYLV.