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Horticultural crops :: Vegetables:: Musk melon and Water melon

Fusarium Wilt: Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis attacks muskmelon and Fusarium oxysporom f. sp. niveumattacks watermelon.

Symptoms

  • Both fungi contribute to damping-off of seedlings, but most significant losses occur after young plants are infected in the field.
  • Plants infected early in the season often produce no marketable fruits.
  • Plants that begin to show wilt symptoms at or near maturity produce fewer and lower quality fruits.
  • The first symptoms of Fusarium wilt are wilting and chlorosis (yellowing) of older leaves. The wilt is most evident during the heat of the day.
  • Plants may appear to recover by morning, only to wilt again in the afternoon.
  • Stem cracks and brown streaks often appear near the crown of the plant and are associated with a red-brown exudate.
  • Fusarium wilt also causes vascular browning that is visible in stem cross-sections.

Management

  • Planting resistant cultivars is the only reliable way to keep infested fields in production.
  • Commercially acceptable resistant cultivars exist, but extremely high pathogen populations in the soil can overcome their resistance.
  • Therefore, methods to reduce Fusarium populations in the soil also should be employed.
  • These methods include extended rotations with crops other than cucurbits and fall plowing of severely infested fields.

 


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