Reaction of melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivars to soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi in Iran

Abstract

The fungi Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi), Monosporascus cannonballus (Pollack and Uecker) and Rhizoctonia solani (Kuhn) are responsible for significant destruction and melon crop losses in the Sistan region of Iran. In this study, eighteen melon cultivars were screened for resistance to these pathogens under greenhouse conditions twice. The melon cultivars were grown in pots and inoculated with each pathogen individually in three different experiments. None of the tested melon cultivars was immune to all the soil-borne plant pathogenic fungi. However, two cultivars, namely ‘Sfidak khatdar’ and ‘Sfidak bekhat’ were moderately resistant to all the three fungi. These melon cultivars are promising sources of resistance to M. phaseolina, M. cannonballus and R. solani, and should be the preferred choice for melon grown in infested areas. This study is the first report on screening of melon cultivars in Iran for resistance to M. phaseolina, M. cannonballus and R. solani and it reports the resistance of melon cultivars to three important soil-borne plant pathogens found worldwide.

Key words: Melon, fungal resistance, Macrophomina phaseolina, Monosporascus cannonballus, Rhizoctonia solani.