Screening of Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata Genotypes for Resistance Against Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita, M. javanica, and M. luci

Abstract

The host response of fifteen winter squash (Cucurbita maxima) and five pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) dihaploid genotypes to Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita, M. javanica, and M. luci was screened in pot experiments. Root galling and nematode reproduction were detected in all combinations of plant genotype and nematode species. Ten genotypes of C. maxima and three genotypes of C. moschata were considered highly resistant (<10% of the susceptible genotype) or moderately resistant (<50% of the susceptible genotype) to one or more Meloidogyne species based on nematode reproduction as a percentage of the most susceptible genotype. Genotypes 55CA15-A3 and G14-IP1 of C. maxima were highly resistant to M. luci and M. arenaria, respectively. Both 14BO01-O2 and G9-A4 genotypes of C. moschata were considered highly resistant to M. arenaria. However, these genotypes still allowed significant nematode reproduction because egg number per plant was higher than initial number of eggs used as inoculum, indicating that all genotypes were hosts.