Evaluation of watermelon for resistance to anthracnose at seedling stage
Watermelon anthracnose poses a critical challenge to the stable development of the watermelon industry,and is a key disease that urgently needs to be addressed.The aims of this study is to identify the resistance of different watermelon varieties to the watermelon anthracnose pathogen,Colletotrichum orbiculare.By isolating and purifying the pathogen from diseased watermelon fruits in Yancheng,Jiangsu,and using various culture media for sporulation,the optimal sporu-lation medium was determined to be oat medium.Through inoculation with different concentrations of spore suspensions using both the drop method and spray method,the spray method with a concentration of 1 × 105 spores·mL-1 was deter-mined as the best inoculation method and concentration.Finally,18 watermelon germplasm resources from different sources were inoculated at the seedling stage,and 1 highly resistant resource and 5 resistant resources were screened out.The research results have potential application value in watermelon disease-resistant breeding.