Determination of fungal root and stem rot agents of melons grown in Kumluca/Antalya

Abstract

Kumluca has an important place in terms of greenhouse vegetable cultivation. Melon is among one of the main vegetables grown in the district on about 3200 decare of land. Various diseases cause decrease in the yield and quality of melons grown undercover in Türkiye. Among them, Fusarium wilt and gummy stem blight diseases especially have caused significant losses in recent years. In this research, the incidence and severity of the root and stem rot disease in Kumluca were determined by surveys made in 72 melon greenhouses in this area. Plant and soil samples were taken to the laboratory and isolations were made. As a result, Fusarium oxysporum and Didymella bryoniae were the most frequently isolated pathogens from the plant samples, followed by other Fusarium species. Fungi with the highest isolation frequency from the soil samples were Fusarium spp., Rhizoctonia solani and Macrophomina phaseolina. In the pathogenicity test, F. oxysporum, F. solani, F. verticillioides, M. phaseolina and R. solani isolates caused severe symptoms on melon seedlings. Virulence of the F. oxysporum isolates on different cucurbit species was also investigated and it was determined that they caused severe wilting on melon and watermelon seedlings, while symptoms on squash and cucumber were moderate or slight. Additionally, reactions of five melon cultivars (Yusufbey, Çıtırex, Niovi, Ferdevs and Memory) commonly grown in the region against D. bryoniae were investigated using randomly selected four pathogen isolates. All the cultivars were susceptible to the disease.

Keywords

• Cucumis melo
• Fusarium wilt
• Gummy stem blight
• Virulence

References

1. Aegerter BJ, Gordon TR, Davis RM (2000) Occurrence and pathogenicity of fungi associated with melon root rot and vine decline in California. Plant Disease 84(3): 224-230.
2. Andrade DEGT, Silva C, Silva LGC, Michereff S, Sales Junior R (2005) Influence of inoculum density and isolates of Rhizoctonia solani on severity of Rhizoctonia root rot of melon. Revista Caatinga 18(3): 164-168.
3. Anonymous (2021) Kumluca İlçesinin Tarımsal Yapısı. Kumluca İlçe Tarım Müdürlüğü. http://kumlucatso.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/kumluca_ilcesin in_tarimsal_yapisi.pdf. Accessed 27 December, 2023.
4. Babu B, Kefialew YW, Li P, Yang X, George S, Newberry E (2015) Genetic characterization of Didymella bryoniae isolates infecting watermelon and other cucurbits in Florida and Georgia. Plant Disease 99: 1488-1499.
5. Basım E, Basım H, Abdulai M, Baki D, Öztürk N (2016) Identification and characterization of Didymella bryoniae causing gummy stem blight disease of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) in Turkey. Crop Protection 90: 150-156.
6. Booth C (1971) The Genus Fusarium. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Kew.
7. Bora T, Karaca İ (1970) Kültür Bitkilerinde Hastalığın ve Zararın Ölçülmesi. Ege Üniversitesi, Yardımcı Ders Kitabı, Yayın No:167, E.Ü. Matbaası, Bornova, İzmir.
8. Boyraz N, Karaca İ (1991) Konya ve çevresinde bazı sebzelerin köklerinden izole edilen fungus genuslarının bulunuş oranları ve tanımları üzerinde bir araştırma. Ege Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi 2(5): 153-159.

9. Boyraz N, Baştaş KK (2005) Konya ilinde kavun solgunluk hastalığının yaygınlığı ve izole edilen Fusarium türlerinin patojeniteleri. Selçuk Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Dergisi 19(37): 100-105.
10. Chikh-Rouhou H, Gomez-Guillamon ML, Gonzales V, Sta-Baba R, Garces-Claver A (2021) Cucumis melo L. germplazma in Tunisia: Unexplaited sources of resistance to Fusarium wilt. Horticultura 7(8): 208.
11. Corazza L, Luongo L, Chilosi G (1992) Characterization of a strain of Rhizoctonia solani Kühn from melon in Italy. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 31: 121-122.
12. Duran İ, Özgönen Özkaya H (2016) Kumluca ilçesi sera alanlarında toprak ve yaprak kökenli fungal hastalık etmenlerinin belirlenmesi. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi 20: 111-122.
13. Erper İ, Karaca GH, Özkoç İ (2008) Root rot disease incidence and severity on some legume species grown in Samsun and the fungi isolated from roots and soils. Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection 41(7): 501-506.
14. Erper İ, Göçmen M, Yıldırım E, Türkkan M, Alkan M, Özer G (2022) First report of damping-off on melon seedlings caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG 4 HG-II in Kyrgyzstan. Journal of Plant Pathology 104: 889-890.
15. Erzurum K (2000a) Orta Anadolu bölgesinde kavun solgunluk nedenleri üzerine araştırmalar. Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi, 6(3): 9-12.
16. Erzurum K (2000b) Kavunda Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goidanich'nın patojenisitesi üzerinde araştırmalar. Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi 6(2): 45-47.
17. FAO (2020) FAOSTAT Statical Databases. http://faostat.fao.org. Accessed 08 December, 2023.
18. Gasparotto F, Vida JB, Tessmann DJ, Alves TCA (2011) Infecção latente de Didymella bryoniae em meloeiro nobre. Summa Phytopathologica 37: 62-64.
19. Goutam E, Krishan B, Singh K, Vishwakarma G (2020) Scientific cultivation of melon (Cucumis melo L.). Research Today 2 (7): 580-583.
20. Keinath AP, Farnham MW, Zitter TA (1995) Morphological, pathological and genetic differentiation of Didymella bryoniae and Phoma spp. isolated from cucurbits. Phytopathology 85: 364-369.
21. Kurt S, Baran B, Sarı N, Yetisir H (2002) Physiologic races of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis in the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey and varietal reactions to races of the pathogen. Phytoparasitica 30(4): 395-402.
22. Latin RX, Snell SJ (1986) Comparison of methods for inoculation of melon with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis. Plant Disease 70(4): 297-300.
23. McMillon RT (1986) Cross pathogenicity studies with isolates of Fusarium oxysporum from either cucumber or watermelon pathogenic to both crop species. Annals of Applied Biology 109(1): 101-105.
24. Mutlu G, Kırbağ S, Üstüner T (2015) Elazığ ili örtü altı hıyar yetiştiriciliğinde görülen fungal hastalıkların belirlenmesi. Bitki Koruma Bülteni 55(4): 341-360.
25. Najafinia M, Sharma P (2009) Cross pathogenicity among isolates of Fusarium oxysporum causing wilt in cucumber and melon. Indian Phytopathology 62(1): 9-13.
26. Oliveira MJ, Laranjeira D, Camara MPS, Laranjeira FF, Armengol J, Michereff SJ (2014) Effects of wounding, humidity, temperature, and inoculum concentrations on the severity of corky dry rot caused by Fusarium semitectum in melon fruits. Acta Scientarum Agronomy 36: 281-289.
27. Reuveni R, Krikun J, Nachmias A, Shlevin E (1982) The role of Macrophomina phaseolina in collapse of melon plants in Israel. Phytoparasitica 10: 51-56.
28. Sağır A (1988) Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesiʼnde kavun ve karpuzlarda kök ve kökboğazı çürüklüğüne neden olan fungal etmenler. Bitki Koruma Bülteni 28(3-4): 141-150.
29. Santos LS, Candido WS, Rabelo HO, Marin MV, Gaion LA, Gomes RF, Camargo M, Braz LT (2017) Reaction of melon genotypes to Didymella bryoniae (Fuckel) Rehm. Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research 77: 71-77.
30. Seo Y, Kim YH (2017) Potential reasons for prevalence of Fusarium wilt in oriental melon in Korea. Plant Pathology Journal 33: 249-263.
31. Silva GTMA, de Oliveira FIC, Carvalho AVF, Andre TPP, da Silva CFB, de Aragao FAS (2020) Method for evaluating Rhizoctonia resistance in melon germplasm. Revista Ciencia Agronomica 51(4): e20197090.
32. Teniz N, Demirer Durak E (2023) Van’ın Erciş, Gevaş ve Edremit ilçelerinde biber, domates ve kavundan Fusarium spp. ve Rhizoctonia spp.’nin teşhisi ve patojeniteleri. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi 28(2): 704-714.
33. Tezcan H, Yıldız M (1991) Ege Bölgesinde Bazı Toprak Kaynaklı Fungusların Neden Olduğu Kavun Kurumaları Üzerinde Araştırmalar. In: 6th Türkiye Phytopathology Congress. İzmir, Türkiye, pp. 121-124.
34. Townsend GR, Heuberger JW (1943) Methods for estimating losses caused by diseases in fungicide experi ments. The Plant Disease Reporter 27: 340-343.
35. Ünlü M, Kurum R, Ünlü A (2017) Örtüaltı kavun (Cucumis melo ssp. melo) yetiştiriciliği için geliştirilen hibritlerin verim ve meyve özellikleri bakımından değerlendirilmesi. Akademik Ziraat Dergisi 6(Özel Sayı): 121-126.
36. Virtuoso MCS, Valente TS, Silva EHC, Braz LT, Panizzi RC, Vargas PF (2022) Implications of the inoculation method and environment in the selection of melon genotypes resistant to Didymella bryoniae. Scientia Horticulturae 300: 111066.
37. Watanabe T (2002) Pictorial Atlas of Soil and Seed Fungi, Morphologies of Cultured Fungi and Key to Species. CRC Press, New York.
38. Zhang J, Bruton BD, Biles CL (2014) Cell wall-degrading enzymes of Didymella bryoniae in relation to fungal growth and virulance in cantoloupe fruit. European Journal of Plant Pathology 139(4): 749-761.
39. Zhao B, Yan J, Zhang S, Liu X, Gao Z (2014) Phylogeny and pathogenicity of Fusarium spp. isolated from greenhouse melon soil in Liaoning Province. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 21(4): 374-379.