STUDIES ON SOFTROT [Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora (Jones) Dye.] OF MUSKMELON (Cucumis melo L.) AND ITS MANAGEMENT
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Date
1991
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AAU, Anand
Abstract
Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is cultivated throughout India, particularly in the hot and dry northwestern areas, for its lusciousness and extremely valued as dessert. Among all disease?, bacterial softrot [Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora (Jones) Dye.] is of a common occurrence almost in all muskmelon growing areas of Gujarat, causing considerable damage to the crop. The muskmelon softrot bacterial culture was identified as Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora (Jones) Dye. on the basis of staining reaction and biochemical and biological assays. Epiphytological studies revealed that the vapour pressure (r = 0.95), soil temperature at 10 cm depth (r = 0.94) and minimum temperature (r = 0.92) were positively related with per cent disease incidence. In disease development, vapour pressure had major effect (90%), followed by soil temperature at 10 cm depth (89%) and minimum temperature (80%). The results of present investigation suggest that clear night with low minimum temperature can help in checking disease development. Similarly, lowering the soil temperature by mulching or suitable plastic cover could also be useful for control of disease development. The vapour pressure is a reliable parameter for forecasting and development of disease. Among the 10 chemicals tested in laboratory, streptocycline (200 ppm) + glycerine (1%) and streptomycin sulphate (250 ppm) were found most effective inhibitor affecting growth of Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora, followed by streptocycline (200 ppm) and streptocycline (200 ppm) + copper oxychloride (500 ppm). During the evaluation of chemicals in field against muskmelon softrot disease, three sprays after sowing at 45, 60 and 75 days intervals with streptocycline (0.02%) + glycerine (1%) was found most effective in reducing the per cent disease incidence followed by streptomycin sulphate (0.025%), streptocycline (0.02%). Streptocycline (0.02%) + glycerine (1%) treatment was most effective in obtaining maximum yield of muskmelon fruits, followed by 0.025% streptomycin sulphate and 0.02% streptocycline. The overall effect of streptocycline (0.02%) + glycerine (1%) in reducing per cent disease incidence and significantly giving higher yield of muskmelon crop under field conditions was quite evident.During the screening of germplasm the maintenance line - 9 and 14 had least percent disease incidence, followed by maintenance line - 2, 11 and 13. Further, during field testing the Gujarat muskmelon-l (GMM-1) variety was found to be more tolerant to softrot disease as compared to Gujarat musk- melon-2 (GMM-2).
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Plant Pathology, Agriculture, A Study