Aggressivity of Different Fusarium Species Causing Fruit Rot in Melons in Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is one of the largest melon (Cucumis melo) producers in the world and most of the production is exported to international markets. Currently, over 15% of the Brazilian melon shipments are lost during export transportation due to Fusarium fruit rot, which is jeopardizing the livelihood of the Brazilian melon producers. Herein, we focused on understanding the aggressivity of five different species of Fusarium causing fruit rot on the main types of melon produced in Brazil. We also investigated the correlation between pathogenicity and fruit quality. Experiments were performed under a completely randomized experimental design, in a 5x8 factorial scheme, using two methodologies for inoculation: deposition of discs of culture media containing fungal structures and deposition of spore suspensions in needle-punctured lesions. The fungal species used were Fusarium falciforme, F. sulawesiense, F. pernambucanum, F. kalimantanense, and Fusarium sp. Fruits of two hybrids from four types of melons, Canary (Goldex and Gold Mine), Piel de Sapo (Grand Prix and Flecha Verde), Galia (McLaren and DRG3228), and Cantaloupe (SV1044 and Bonsai), were used. Disease severity was assessed by measuring the lesions, disease severity index, fruit firmness, and degrees Brix of fruits. The five Fusarium spp. caused rot in the fruits of all melon hybrids studied and the aggressivity of those fungal species varied with the type/hybrid of melon fruits studied. Fruits of the hybrids McLaren and Bonsai presented the largest lesions among all melon hybrids, and hybrids of Canary type (Gold Mine and Goldex) were the most tolerant to rot caused by the Fusarium species investigated. Furthermore, the greater the severity of Fusarium fruit rot, the lower the pulp firmness of the melon fruits but degrees Brix did not correlate with the onset of the disease.

Identification of Fusarium solani f. sp. cucurbitae Causing Zucchini Fruit Rot in Inner Mongolia, China

“…The fungal diseases of plants in the family Cucurbitaceae mainly include Phytophthora blight caused by Phytophthora capsici, powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii, and Fusarium diseases caused by Fusarium species [19,20]. Fusarium fruit rot is an important disease affecting melons and pumpkins, which leads to economic and quality losses [6,10]. Recent studies revealed F. asiaticum and F. incarnatum, as novel pathogens, can cause fruit rot on melons in China [7,21,22], while F. solani f. sp.…”

“…melonis (Fom), which determined the difference in host range compared with F. oxysoporum f. sp. radiciscucumerinum (Forc) [9]; and the pathogenicity of five species of Fusarium (Fusarium sp., F. sulawesiense, F. falciforme, F. kalimantanense, and F. pernambucanum) and their effects on melon fruit quality in Brazil [10].…”

Effect of environmental factors, fungicide sensitivity, and pathogenicity of Fusarium spp. associated with fruit rot of melon

“…All isolates were identified by Medeiros Araújo et al (2021) using molecular techniques and are deposited in the Coleção Micológica de Lavras (CML) at the Universidade Federal de Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. These isolates were previously selected after pathogenicity test by Nogueira et al (2023), confirming their high level of aggressiveness. The culturing of all isolates was performed in Petri dishes with potato dextrose agar medium (PDA; Merck KGaA).…”

“…It is estimated that approximately 15% of exported melons reach the importing market with symptoms of post-harvest diseases, causing severe losses to producers, as it renders them unfeasible for commercial use (Oster et al, 2018). Among the post-harvest diseases in melon, fruit rot caused by fungi belonging to the genus Fusarium stands out (Li et al, 2019;Nogueira et al, 2023). Fusarium rot in melon has been observed since 1999, with the causal agent initially identified as Fusarium pallidoroseum (synonyms: F. incarnatum, F. semitectum) (Huang et al, 2000).…”

Study on the inhibitory mechanism of fig leaf extract against postharvest Fusarium in melon

“…Studies have shown that postharvest pathogenic fungal colonies of melons are diverse, with Fusarium being the dominant fungal genus ( Zheng et al, 2020 ). More than 15% of Brazilian melons are reportedly lost to Fusarium fruit rot during export transport ( Nogueira et al, 2023 ). Fusarium is an important postharvest pathogen of fruits and vegetables and can infect fruits and vegetables such as blackthorn plum ( Hye, Thi & Hyang, 2016 ), watermelon ( Balasubramaniam et al, 2023 ), winter pumpkin ( Kitabayashi et al, 2023 ), banana ( Kanhe, Abhilasha & Girish, 2019 ), pineapple ( Barral et al, 2019 ), kiwifruit ( Wang et al, 2023 ) and melon ( Nogueira et al, 2023 ).…”