First report on the occurrence of races 1 and 2 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum infecting watermelon in India.

Abstract

Watermelon is an important cucurbit vegetable crop throughout the globe as well as in India. Around 74% of watermelon comes from the major growing belts viz., Indo-Gangetic plains and the Deccan Plateau regions of the country. With increasing demand, its cultivation is also being expanded to non-traditional areas and is being grown in different seasons. In this context, wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (Fon), is emerging as a major yield-limiting factor. To date, four races of the pathogen have been reported globally. However, no such reports on the prevalence of pathogen races were available from India. In this study, we have characterized two virulent Indian isolates into race 1 and race 2 of Fon by studying their ability to infect specific set of host differentials. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the occurrence of races 1 and 2 of F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum infecting watermelon in India.