A new rootstock watermelon variety has shown resistance to Fusarium wilt and the southern root-knot nematode.
The variety, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and Clemson University scientists, has been named Carolina Strongback, William “Pat” Wechter, plant pathologist with the ARS U.S. Vegetable Research Laboratory in Charleston, S.C., said in the release.
Fusarium wilt, a soilborne disease that threatens vegetable crops, can stay in the soil for 30 years or longer, and fumigants used to control it are no longer available, he said in the release.
Watermelon also can be extremely susceptible to nematodes, according to the release.
Susceptible varieties of watermelons can be grafted onto resistant rootstocks of other vegetables such as squash and pumpkin to control certain pathogens, according to the release. However, while some watermelons grafted to squash rootstock have shown to be resistant to Fusarium wilt, they are susceptible to southern root-knot nematode.
The release said Carolina Strongback was tested in soils infested with fusarium and nematodes and performed well, Wechter said in the release.
To create the new line, Wechter used two wild citron watermelon lines that possessed resistance to Fusarium wilt and nematodes, according to the release.
Carolina Strongback material can now be used by seed companies, vegetable grafting companies and watermelon growers as a rootstock for growing susceptible watermelon cultivars in soils infested by Fusarium wilt pathogen and root-knot nematodes, according to the release.
ARS has filed a Plant Variety Protection on the technology and is working with a commercial company on a licensing agreement.
