Screening cultivated and wild genotypes of water melon to identify resistanceagainst Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum (Citrullus lanatus (Thumb) race 2

Saheb Pal; Sreenivasarao Eguru; R N Thontadarya; Sriram Subbaraman

doi:10.24154/jhs.v20i1.2630

Authors

Saheb Pal ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Jharkhand Author
Sreenivasarao Eguru ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta Lake PO, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka , Indian Institute of Horticultural Research Author
R N Thontadarya ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta Lake Post, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka , Indian Institute of Horticultural Research Author
Sriram Subbaraman ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka, India , Indian Institute of Horticultural Research Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24154/jhs.v20i1.2630

Abstract

The present experiment was carried out to screen 341 Citrullus sp. accessions for identification of resistant genotypes against Fon race 2. The accessions were screened across two consecutive experiments conducted during the late-rainy season of 2017. Spore suspension of Fon race 2 was inoculated following the standard pipette method at 14-day seedling stage. An accession showing a mean survival of > 67% at 28 days post-inoculation (DPI) was categorized as resistant and the remaining accessions were categorized as susceptible. A total of 30 accessions were found resistant. Of them, eight accessions possessed a mean survival of > 90% at 28 DPI and were categorized as highly resistant. All these highly resistant accessions belong to C. lanatus with moderate fruit quality traits. Therefore, these genotypes could be used for watermelon improvement programs in the future that aim to incorporate resistance to Fon race 2 into the crop’s elite and commercial market segments without incurring linkage drag.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Saheb Pal, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Jharkhand

Scientist (Vegetable Science), ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Jharkhand, Gauria Karma, Barhi, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand-825405
Sreenivasarao Eguru, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta Lake PO, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

Principal Scientist, Division of Vegetable Crops, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru 560089, India
R N Thontadarya, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta Lake Post, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

Division of Vegetable Crops, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesaraghatta Lake Post, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka
Sriram Subbaraman, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru-560089, Karnataka, India, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

Head, 3Division of Crop Protection, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bengaluru 560089, India

References

Anonymous. (2023). *Area and production of horticultural crops for 2022-2023*. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, New Delhi, India. (Accessed July 2, 2025).

Boyhan, G. E., Langston, D. M., Granberry, D. M., Lewis, P. M., & Linton, D. O. (2003). Resistance to Fusarium wilt and root-knot nematode in watermelon germplasm. *Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report, 26,* 18-25.

Branham, S., Wechter, W. P., Ling, K. S., Chanda, B., Messey, L., Zhao, G., Guner, N., Bello, M., Kabelka, E., Fei, Z., & Levi, A. (2019). QTL mapping of resistance to *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* race 2 and Papaya ringspot virus in *Citrullus amarus*. *Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 133,* 677-687.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-019-03500-3

Bruton, B. D., Fish, W. W., & Langston, D. B. (2008). First report of Fusarium wilt caused by *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* race 2 in Georgia watermelons. *Plant Disease, 92,* 983.

https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-92-6-0983B

Campbell, C. L., & Madden, L. V. (1990). *Introduction to plant disease epidemiology*. Wiley.

Dane, F., Hawkins, L. K., Norton, J. D., Kwon, Y. S., & Om, Y. H. (1998). New resistance to Race 2 of *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* in watermelon. *Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report, 21,* 37-39.

Egel, D. S., & Martyn, R. D. (2007). Fusarium wilt of watermelon and other cucurbits. *The Plant Health Instructor.*

https://doi.org/10.1094/PHI-I-2007-0122-01

Gunn, C. A., Weber, J. L., McGill, A. T., & Kruger, M. C. (2015). Increased intake of selected vegetables, herbs and fruit may reduce bone turnover in postmenopausal women. *Journal of Nutrition, 7,* 2499-2517.

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7042499

Guo, S., Zhang, J., Sun, H., Salse, J., Lucas, W. J., Zhang, H., Zheng, Y., Mao, L., Ren, Y., Wang, Z., … Levi, A. (2013). The draft genome of watermelon (*Citrullus lanatus*) and resequencing of 20 diverse accessions. *Nature Genetics, 45,* 51-58.

https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2470

Huh, Y. C., Om, Y. H., & Lee, J. M. (2002). Utilization of *Citrullus* germplasm with resistance to Fusarium wilt (*Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum*) for watermelon rootstocks. *Acta Horticulturae, 588,* 127-132.

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.588.18

Kamdi, D. R., Mondhe, M. K., Jadesha, G., Kshirsagar, D. N., & Thakur, K. D. (2012). Efficacy of botanicals, bio-agents and fungicides against *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *ciceri* in chickpea wilt sick plot. *Annals of Biological Research, 3*(11), 5390-5392.

King, S. R., Davis, A. R., Liu, W., & Levi, A. (2008). Grafting for disease resistance. *HortScience, 43,* 1673-1676.

https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.43.6.1673

Martyn, R. D., & Netzer, D. (1991). Resistance to races 0, 1, and 2 of Fusarium wilt of watermelon in *Citrullus* sp. PI296341-FR. *HortScience, 26,* 429-432.

https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.26.4.429

McGregor, C. E., & Waters, V. (2013). Pollen viability of F1 hybrids between watermelon cultivars and disease resistant, infra-specific crop wild relatives. *HortScience, 48*(12), 1428-1432.

https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.48.12.1428

Meru, G., & McGregor, C. E. (2016). Genotyping by sequencing for SNP discovery and genetic mapping of resistance to race 1 of *Fusarium oxysporum* in watermelon. *Scientia Horticulturae, 209,* 31-40.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2016.06.005

Pal, S., Rao, E. S., Reddy, D. C. L., & Varalakshmi, B. (2022). Association analysis in a germplasm panel of watermelon (*Citrullus lanatus* (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) predominantly from India confirms a QTL conferring resistance to *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* race 1. *The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology, 97*(1), 75-85.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14620316.2021.1980441

Pal, S., Rao, E. S., Thontadarya, R. N., Chandran, N. K., & Sriram, S. (2020). First report on the occurrence of race 1 and 2 of *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* infecting watermelon in India. *Indian Phytopathology, 73,* 793-796.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s42360-020-00270-7

Paris, H. S. (2015). Origin and emergence of the sweet dessert watermelon *Citrullus lanatus*. *Annals of Botany, 116,* 133-148.

https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcv077

Wechter, W. P., Koushik, C., McMillan, M., & Levi, A. (2012). Identification of resistance to *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* race 2 in *Citrullus lanatus* var. *citroides* plant introductions. *HortScience, 47*(3), 334-338.

https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI.47.3.334

Wen, C., & Guo, K. (2017). *Fusarium oxysporum* strain XGKWJ3 internal transcribed spacer 1, partial sequence. NCBI Gene Bank ID: KY798172. Available at [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Zhou, X. G., Everts, K. L., & Bruton, B. D. (2010). Race 3, a new and highly virulent race of *Fusarium oxysporum* f. sp. *niveum* causing Fusarium wilt in watermelon. *Plant Disease, 94*(1), 92-98.

https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-94-1-0092