COMPARISON OF FUSARIUM-SOLANI AND FUSARIUM-OXYSPORUM AS CAUSAL AGENTS OF FRUIT ROT AND ROOT-ROT OF MUSKMELON

Rotting muskmelon fruits commonly are associated with commercial fields that are affected by the root rot/vine decline disease syndrome found in southern Texas. Four isolates of Fusarium solani previously shown to be either weakly pathogenic or nonpathogenic to muskmelon seedlings caused extensive rot on mechanically wounded muskmelon fruits. Two of these isolates caused more extensive fruit rot than either F. solani (Mart.) Sacc. f. sp. cucurbitae W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hans. or F. oxysporum Schlechtend.:Fr. melonis (Leach & Currence) W.C. Snyder & H.N. Hans., causal agents of fusarium crown and foot rot of cucurbits and fusarium wilt of muskmelon, respectively. In other tests, root-dip inoculation of seedlings showed that all muskmelon cultigens included in this study and the breeding line MR-1 were susceptible to a California and an Arkansas strain of F. s. f. sp. cucurbitae race 1.