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The incidence of sugarcane grassy shoot (SCGS) disease may reach up to 70% or more as is often true for ratoon crops resulting in yield losses of 40-90%, but often approaching 100% (Rishi and Chen, 1989; Viswanathan, 1997, 2001a; Rao and Dhumal, 2002; Srivastava et al., 2006).

RUS is of considerable economic importance, especially in areas where outbreaks occur. It has been described as a serious and widespread problem of raspberry in the former Soviet Union (see van der Meer (1987) for references). After the First World War, the disease became disastrous in raspberry areas in southern parts of The Netherlands, and many young plantations, started with healthy plant material, contained 60-90% infected plants in the second year after planting (see van der Meer (1987) for references). Small outbreaks and/or incidental occurrences of RUS disease have been reported from several other European countries (van der Meer, 1987).