Integrated management of sudden wilt in melons, caused by Monosporascus cannonballus, using grafting and reduced rates of methyl bromide

Citation
M. Edelstein et al., Integrated management of sudden wilt in melons, caused by Monosporascus cannonballus, using grafting and reduced rates of methyl bromide, PLANT DIS, 83(12), 1999, pp. 1142-1145
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Plant Sciences
Journal title
PLANT DISEASE
ISSN journal
01912917 → ACNP
Volume
83
Issue
12
Year of publication
1999
Pages
1142 - 1145
Database
ISI
SICI code
0191-2917(199912)83:12<1142:IMOSWI>2.0.ZU;2-T
Abstract
Sudden wilt of melons induced by Monosporascus cannonballus is a worldwide problem, mainly in arid and semi-arid regions. Soil disinfestation by fumig ation with methyl bromide is a common and very effective treatment for dise ase control. However, methyl bromide is expected to be banned from use with in the next 5 to 10 years; therefore, alternative measures for disease mana gement are urgently needed. In this study, the efficacy of methyl bromide a t a reduced rate (15 g/m(2) instead of 50 g/m(2)) and grafted plants, alone or in combination, was examined. Experiments were conducted in the 'Arava region in southern Israel in naturally infested fields. First, various root stock accessions were tested in three experiments. Of the eight rootstocks evaluated, cv. Brava (Cucurbita maxima) was selected to serve as a rootstoc k in the subsequent experiments due to its effects on wilt reduction (63 to 100% reduction in two experiments and 35% reduction in one experiment) and its horticultural performance. Next, integration of grafting and a reduced rate of methyl bromide was tested in two experiments. The reduced methyl b romide rate suppressed disease, but results were variable (32 and 91% reduc tion in the two experiments). Grafting, when used alone, significantly redu ced wile incidence by 84 to 87% compared to untreated plots. Integration of the two control measures provided adequate and reliable results and wilt i ncidence was always significantly lower (75 to 100% reduction) than inciden ce in untreated plots. Because control by each measure alone varies, integr ated application is preferable.