scholarly journals Effect of Protectant Fungicide Application Schedules on Gummy Stem Blight Epidemics and Marketable Yield of Watermelon

Plant Disease ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Keinath

The watermelon cultivar Royal Star was grown in fall 1996, spring and fall 1997, and spring 1998 and treated with 2.52 kg a.i./ha of the protectant fungicides mancozeb or chlorothalonil. Spray application schedules used in the experiments included two initiation times, sprays every 7, 10, or 14 days, and two termination times. Severity of gummy stem blight, caused by Didymella bryoniae, was high in fall 1996 and 1997, moderate in spring 1997, and low in spring 1998. In each experiment, fungicide applications reduced the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), percent leaf area diseased at the end of the season, time to reach 25% disease severity, or all three disease measurements relative to the nonsprayed control. In the 1996 and both 1997 experiments, 7-day spray intervals provided more effective disease control than 14-day intervals. In general, initiating sprays early reduced gummy stem blight compared with delayed sprays, but spray termination times did not affect AUDPC. In both fall experiments, fungicide applications increased yield of marketable fruit over the no-fungicide control. A 7-day spray interval increased marketable weight compared with a 14-day interval only in fall 1996. Weight of marketable fruit did not differ among treatments in either spring experiment. Differences in disease control among treatments often did not correspond to differences in marketable yields.

1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
LL Vawdrey

Ten fungicides were evaluated in 2 experiments with rockmelons for control of gummy stem blight caused by Didymella bryoniae. The fungicides (g a.i./ha) tebuconazole (100 and 160), fentin hydroxide (226), prochloraz Mn (231 and 370), benomyl (400), benomyl (400, 500) plus white oil (2 L/ha), propiconazole (100), mancozeb (1600), mancozeb plus phosphonic acid (1600 + 1000), myclobutanil (237), and chlorothalonil (1600) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the incidence and severity of gummy stem blight compared with an unsprayed treatment. Total weight of fruit and number and weight of marketable fruit in plots treated with fungicides were increased (P<0.05) by as much as 55% compared with untreated plots. Premature fruit ripening was reduced where there was effective disease control. Tebuconazole was the superior chemical but was phytotoxic when applied at 160 g a.i./ha. Fentin hydroxide caused burn on old foliage. Two accessions of Cucumis melo obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture (PI 266934, PI 266935) and 5 commercial cultivars were evaluated for resistance to gummy stem blight in a field experiment. PI 266934 and PI 266935 were highly resistant and the commercial cultivars were susceptible.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 2859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francielli Gasparotto ◽  
Ricardo Ribeiro de Oliveira ◽  
Marcelo Paes Penharbel ◽  
Dauri José Tessmann ◽  
Jefferson Fernandes do Nascimento ◽  
...  

Gummy stem blight, caused by Didymella bryoniae, is the most important fungal diseases of muskmelons cultivated in protected environments in Brazil. Fungicides are used to control this disease, and little is known about the effectiveness of alternative control methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of grafting on the control of gummy stem blight in four muskmelon hybrids. The hybrids Bonus II, Sunrise, Louis and Prince hakusho were grafted onto the squash hybrid Shelper, which is immune to D. bryoniae. Two experiments were conducted, one in greenhouse with artificial inoculation of the pathogen and the other in protected environment using crop residues and soil infected with the pathogen. Under greenhouse conditions, mycelial discs of the pathogen were inoculated onto the hypocotyl or at the union graft/rootstock region of the grafted plants and onto ungrafted plants of each hybrid. By growing these four melon hybrids in a protected environment, the effect of grafting on the control of gummy stem blight could be studied. When these melons were grown in the greenhouse or in a protected environment, grafting significantly reduced the growth of gummy stem blight in all four melon hybrids. For grafted hybrid plants inoculated at the hypocotyl, the disease severity decreased by 34.1%, 33.8%, 51.1% and 48.0% for Sunrise, Bonus II, Louis and Prince hakusho, respectively, compared to ungrafted plants. For grafted plants inoculated at the union graft/rootstock region, the disease severity decreased by 54.3%, 57.3%, 54.1% and 44.6%, respectively. For melons grown in protected environments, grafting reduced the severity of gummy stem blight in the four melon hybrids by 34.3%, 34.8%, 45.8% and 49.6%, respectively. Thus, grafting onto immune rootstocks significantly reduced the severity of D. bryoniae in the four muskmelon hybrids grown under greenhouse and protected environment conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-187
Author(s):  
Abdel-Fattah El-Wakil ◽  
Amal Khalil ◽  
Ibrahim El -Abbasi

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Katherine L. Stevenson ◽  
Anthony P. Keinath ◽  
Anna Thomas ◽  
David B. Langston ◽  
Pamela D. Roberts ◽  
...  

The fungicide Pristine, a commercial mixture of pyraclostrobin and boscalid, has been used widely on watermelon and other cucurbits to control gummy stem blight, caused by the fungus Didymella bryoniae. Since 2007, isolates of D. bryoniae insensitive to boscalid have been found in Georgia, Indiana, and South Carolina. Most isolates of D. bryoniae obtained in 2009 and 2010 from diseased watermelon leaves collected in several counties in Florida and North Carolina were found to be insensitive to boscalid using in vitro assays. Gummy stem blight would not be effectively managed with Pristine in any of the counties where samples were collected due to the high frequency of insensitivity to boscalid. Fortunately growers can instead use several triazole fungicides registered for use on cucurbits since 2009. Accepted for publication 30 March 2012. Published 18 May 2012.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil R dos Santos ◽  
Manoel D de Castro Neto ◽  
Hudson SM de Almeida ◽  
Leandro N Ramos ◽  
Renato A Sarmento ◽  
...  

Nitrogen fertilization is an important step for watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production due to its influence over yield, fruit quality, and disease severity. Currently, the gummy stem blight (Didymella bryoniae) and the downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora cubensis) can be taken as the most important watermelon diseases, since they impose severe impairment to the crop. Furthermore, studies focusing on plant responses to nitrogen fertilization regarding fruit yield and quality, and disease resistance are rare. Hence, the present study aimed at evaluating the effect of nitrogen doses on fruit yield and quality, and on disease prevalence in watermelon. Two experiments were carried out at the Universidade Federal de Tocantins, employing sprinkler irrigation, in an area previously used to grow watermelon. The experimental design was blocks at random, with five treatments (N doses, applied twice as side-dressing, in kg ha-1, as follows: T1= control treatment without N, T2= 20, T3= 40, T4= 80, and T5= 120), and four replications. Urea (45% N) was used as the N source. In the first assay, the highest fruit yield and average weight were observed when 40 kg ha-1 of N were applied. The highest severity of the gummy stem blight was observed when the highest nitrogen doses were applied (80 and 120 kg ha-1). In the second assay, the highest severity levels of the gummy stem blight, as well as of mildew, were observed again when N doses were the highest (80 and 120 kg ha-1). The lowest severity levels for both diseases were observed in the control treatment.


Plant Disease ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Keinath

Yield and quality reductions in watermelon infected with Didymella bryoniae may be attributed to reduced number or weight of fruit, sunburned fruit, fruit rot, or low sugar content due to gummy stem blight on foliage and black rot on fruit. Number, weight, soluble solids content, and external appearance of fruit were determined in four experiments conducted in fall 1996 and 1997 and spring 1997 and 1998. Severity of gummy stem blight was varied by applying no fungicide, mancozeb, or chlorothalonil according to different schedules. In the fall, when disease severity was high, total fruit weight, percent marketable fruit, and soluble solids content were lower and percent fruit with black rot was higher in nonsprayed than in sprayed treatments. Fungicide applications did not affect total fruit weight, soluble solids content, or black rot in the spring, when disease severity was moderate to low. Percent sunburned fruit was greater in treatments sprayed every 14 days than in those sprayed weekly. In fall experiments, the number of healthy, unblemished fruit increased linearly as the number of fungicide applications was increased from zero to nine per season. Yield losses in watermelon to gummy stem blight and black rot resulted primarily from a reduction in total fruit weight and an increase in number of diseased and sunburned fruit.


Plant Disease ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 96 (12) ◽  
pp. 1780-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Thomas ◽  
D. B. Langston ◽  
H. F. Sanders ◽  
K. L. Stevenson

Gummy stem blight (GSB), caused by the fungus Didymella bryoniae, is the most destructive disease of watermelon and is managed primarily with fungicides. D. bryoniae has developed resistance to many fungicides that were once very effective, including azoxystrobin, boscalid, and thiophanate-methyl. Field experiments were conducted in Tifton (TN) and Reidsville (RV), GA in 2009 and 2010 to establish a relationship between frequency of resistance to a fungicide based on in vitro assays and its efficacy in the management of GSB. Frequency of resistance to boscalid, thiophanate-methyl, and azoxystrobin was >0.80 in isolates collected from nontreated plots in both locations and years. All isolates collected after six applications of boscalid, thiophanate-methyl, or azoxystrobin were resistant to the respective fungicide. All isolates collected from treated and nontreated plots were sensitive to tebuconazole and difenoconazole. GSB severity was assessed on a weekly basis from 63 days after planting. GSB severity in plots treated with boscalid, thiophanate-methyl, or azoxystrobin was not significantly different from that in the nontreated plots (39%, TN-2009; 45%, TN-2010; and 16%, RV-2010). GSB severity in tebuconazole-treated plots (27%, TN-2009; 14%, TN-2010; and 4%, RV-2010) was significantly lower than all other treatments and the nontreated control. There was a consistent negative association between frequency of fungicide resistance and disease control in the field. Thus, knowledge of the frequency of fungicide resistance in the pathogen population will be helpful in selecting the most effective fungicides for the management of GSB in watermelon fields.


Plant Disease ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 99 (6) ◽  
pp. 815-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Keinath

To prevent yield reductions from gummy stem blight, fungicides often must be applied to watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and muskmelon (Cucumis melo). Didymella bryoniae, the ascomycete fungus that causes gummy stem blight, is resistant to thiophanate-methyl, quinone-outside inhibitors (QoI), boscalid, and penthiopyrad. In place of these fungicides, premixtures of cyprodinil and fludioxonil (Switch 62.5WG) or cyprodinil and difenoconazole (Inspire Super 2.82SC) are used. The objectives of this study were to examine baseline isolates of D. bryoniae for sensitivity to cyprodinil and fludioxonil and to determine the efficacy of cyprodinil-fludioxonil and cyprodinil-difenoconazole against isolates resistant to QoI fungicides and boscalid. Colony diameters of 146 isolates of D. bryoniae collected in South Carolina and other U.S. states prior to 2008 were measured on glucose minimal medium amended with cyprodinil or fludioxonil. Mean effective concentration values that reduced relative colony diameter by 50% were 0.052 and 0.099 mg/liter cyprodinil and fludioxonil, respectively. In autumn 2008, 2009, and 2011, field-grown watermelon inoculated with isolates resistant to QoI fungicides and boscalid was treated with boscalid-pyraclostrobin alternated with chlorothalonil, cyprodinil-fludioxonil alternated with chlorothalonil, cyprodinil-difenoconazole alternated with chlorothalonil, tebuconazole alternated with chlorothalonil, chlorothalonil, or water. In 2008 and 2011, both cyprodinil treatments reduced disease severity compared with the water control treatment and chlorothalonil alone. In 2008 and 2009, cyprodinil-fludioxonil reduced severity compared with boscalid-pyraclostrobin and, in 2008, cyprodinil-difenoconazole and tebuconazole also did. Use of cyprodinil-fludioxonil should control gummy stem blight effectively and may delay development of resistance to cyprodinil and fludioxonil in D. bryoniae. However, because Botrytis cinerea became resistant to both cyprodinil and fludioxonil after multiple applications of cyprodinil-fludioxonil per season, prudent fungicide rotations should be followed when using cyprodinil-containing fungicides against D. bryoniae.


HortScience ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 930-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. McGrath ◽  
L. Vawdrey ◽  
I.O. Walker

Resistance to gummy stem blight [Didymella bryoniae (Auersw.) Rehm] was evaluated in two accessions of Cucumis melo L., PI 266935 and PI 266934. Based on disease reaction scores and dry weights, PI 266934 possessed much greater resistance than PI 266935. The quality of resistance of PI 266934 was unaffected by the ranges of seedling ages and inoculum concentrations used. No melon cultivar, to our knowledge, is highly resistant to gummy stem blight in the field, and alternative sources of superior resistance are potentially useful for breeding.


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