Because no symptoms are produced on newly infected sugarcane, this procedure now makes it possible to test sugarcane seed imports for smut disease and prevent its transmission between states and foreign countries. The PCR technique is also being used to study the systemic development of the smut fungus within the sugarcane plants. In Hawaii, the most prevalent forms of stress on the sugarcane plants are insufficient water and nutrients. Starting this year, disease screening for yellow leaf syndrome will be done. All of the main commercial varieties have now been surveyed on the Hawaiian plantations and the virus was found to be more widespread than expected.
Most infected cane remains asymptomatic until it is placed under stress conditions.
Sugarcane micropropagules have been cured of the virus, but the procedure is time consuming and would be very expensive on a large scale. Now that a reliable diagnostic technique is available, research is continuing into the effect of virus infection on growth and yield. Also, a survey is underway to screen sugarcane relatives and local weed species to determine whether alternate hosts of the virus exist. The virus is now known to be transmitted by two species of aphids that occur in Hawaii. Colonies of these aphids are being reared for use in transmission studies that will help to evaluate the transmission and spread of the virus under natural field conditions.