Gummy stem blight (GSB) caused by Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm is one of the most important soilborne diseases of melon and causes significant economic losses (30% to 60%) ( Frantz and Jahn, 2004 ). Although chemical control has been
Gummy stem blight is a major disease of watermelon [ C. lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai]. It is caused by three genetically distinct Stagonosporopsis species, S. cucurbitacearum (syn. Didymella bryoniae ), S . citrulli , and S . caricae
Melon production is severely constrained by several soil-borne disease pathogens. Of these pathogens, Didymella bryoniae (Auersw), Rehm that causes gummy stem blight (GSB) is one of the most destructive resulting in substantial economic losses
Resistance to gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm] was evaluated in two accessions of Cucumis melo L., PI 266935 and PI 266934. Based on disease reaction scores and dry weights, PI 266934 possessed much greater resistance than PI 266935. The quality of resistance of PI 266934 was unaffected by the ranges of seedling ages and inoculum concentrations used. No melon cultivar, to our knowledge, is highly resistant to gummy stem blight in the field, and alternative sources of superior resistance are potentially useful for breeding.
Gummy stem blight (GSB) is a major disease of watermelon [ Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai] that leads to significant economic losses. This disease is caused by three genetically distinct Stagonosporopsis species, S . cucurbitacearum
Leaf and stem resistance to gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm.] in five resistant by susceptible crosses of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) was investigated using generation means analysis. No single gene of major effect controls either leaf or stem resistance to gummy stem blight in these five crosses. The mean number of effective factors controlling leaf resistance in the cross `Slice' × `Wis. SMR 18' was estimated to be at least five. Estimates of broad- and narrow-sense heritabilities indicated that environmental effects were larger than genetic effects. In general, additive variance was the larger component of genetic variance. Epistasis was significant in most crosses, and dominance was present in several crosses. Additive gene effects contributed more to resistance than to susceptibility in contrast with dominance gene effects. Reciprocal differences for leaf rating were detected in the crosses M 17 × `Wis. SMR 18' and `Slice' × `Wis. SMR 18'. Phenotypic correlations between leaf and stem ratings were moderate (r = 0.52 to 0.72). Estimates of genetic gain for resistance to gummy stem blight ranged from low to moderate. Breeding methods that make best use of additive variance should be used because much of the variance for resistance is additive, and dominance effects, at least in these crosses, tended to contribute to susceptibility.
Gummy stem blight (Didymella blight), caused by Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm and its anamorph Phoma cucurbitacearum (Fr.:Fr.) Sacc., is the second most important disease of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in North Carolina after root knot nematodes Meloidogyne sp. Both Didymella blight and Phoma blight, caused by Phoma exigua Desm., have similar symptoms and control practices, and are generally referred to as gummy stem blight. In order to determine whether resistance existed to North Carolina isolates of D. bryoniae, 851 cultigens [cultivars, breeding lines, and plant introduction (PI) lines] were evaluated in the field. Plants were inoculated with one selected isolate (highly pathogenic in preliminary greenhouse tests) at the vine tip-over stage. They were rated for foliage lesion size and number on a 0 to 9 visual scale (0 = no disease, 9 = plant killed) and average ratings for 10 plants per plot were analyzed. The ratings ranged from 2.0 (highly resistant) to 8.5 (highly susceptible) with a mean of 6.2. The most resistant breeding lines and PI accessions were PI 200815, PI 390243, `LJ 90430', PI 279469, and PI 432855. The most resistant cultivars were `Homegreen #2', `Little John', `Transamerica', and `Poinsett 76'. The most susceptible cultigens in the study were PI 288238, PI 357843, PI 357865, and PI 167134. Two popular cultivars in North Carolina, `Calypso' and `Dasher II', were moderately resistant.
Abstract
Diseases, particularly gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm], downy mildew [Pseudoperonospora cubensis (Berk, and Curt.) Rostow], and powdery mildew [Sphaerotheca fuliginea (Schlecht) Poll], are major factors limiting production of muskmelon in the southern United States (Anonymous, 1962; Chiu, 1948; Ellis, 1951; Norton and Prasad, 1965; Prasad and Norton, 1967; Winstead et al., 1960). Severe economic losses have been reported in the field, in transit, and in storage. Although satisfactory control of gummy stem blight (GSB), downy mildew (DM), and powdery mildew (PM) may be accomplished with the proper application of organic fungicides during normal weather conditions, chemical control is not effective during periods of high humidity and rainfall. Furthermore, only three cultivars—Chilton, Gulfcoast, and AU-rora-are reported to be resistant to GSB (Norton, 1971; Norton, 1972; Norton et al., 1985). The discovery that plant introduction 140471 had a high level of resistance to GSB (Sowell et al., 1966) led to the initiation of an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station muskmelon breeding program to develop multiple disease-resistant breeding lines with high yields of excellent-quality fruit (Norton and Prasad, 1965; Prasad and Norton, 1967).
Greenhouse and field evaluations of melon (Cucumis melo L.) for resistance to gummy stem blight, caused by the fungus Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm, were conducted on 798 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Plant Introduction (PI) accessions and 24 related Cucumis species. Plants were inoculated at the three to four true-leaf stage with a virulent isolate of D. bryoniae collected from Onondaga County, N.Y., and disease indices were calculated based on foliar and stem symptoms. In greenhouse screens, 43 C. melo accessions showed a high level of resistance. Results were consistent between the optimized greenhouse screening procedure described and inoculated replicated field tests. Of these accessions, a Chinese group, PIs 157076, 157080, 157081, 157082, 157084; another group from Zimbabwe, PIs 482393, 482398, 482399, 482402, 482403, 482408; and some others from different origins, PI 255478 (Korea) and PI 511890 (Mexico), showed high levels of resistance, at least equal to that in PI 140471, the leading source of resistance to date.
Gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm] is the second most important pathogen of field-grown cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) in North Carolina and a severe problem for greenhouse-grown cucumbers worldwide. To determine whether resistance exists under North Carolina field conditions, 83 cultigens [cultivars, breeding lines, and plant introduction (PI) accessions] were evaluated in the field for 4 years for their resistance to a mixture of D. bryoniae isolates. Plants were inoculated at the vine tip-over stage and rated for foliar lesion size and number. Cultigens identified as resistant in Wisconsin and The Netherlands were not resistant in North Carolina. When averaged over years and locations, the most resistant C. sativus cultigens were PI 164433, `Slice', PI 390264, M 17, and M 12. Several accessions of related Cucumis species were highly resistant: PI 299568 (C. myriocarpus Naud.), PI 282450 (C. zeyheri Sond.), PI 299572 (C. myriocarpus), and PI 233646 (C. anguria L.). The most susceptible cultivars were `Colet', `Meresto', `Supergreen', `Dura', `Pioneer', `Marketmore 76', `Pickmore', and `Addis'. `Calypso' and `Dasher II', popular cultivars in North Carolina, were moderately susceptible.