Muskmelon (Cucumis Melo L.): Major Diseases And Their Management

Muskmelon or Kharbooja (Cucumis melo L.), is an important member of the Cucurbitaceae family. It is native of tropical Africa and grown for its delicious fruit. Most often, it is ambiguously chunked in both vegetable and fruit. But, botanically, legally, and culinarily it is a fruit while biological and cultural similarity to other cucurbitaceous vegetable it is considered as vegetable. In India, it is cultivated in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka during summer and rainy months. Meanwhile, for off-season production, it is grown as Diara cultivation in the river basin of the Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, and other tributaries of these rivers during the winter and spring months. The ripe fruits of muskmelon have sweet and juicy pulp. Muskmelon is severely affected by many fungal as well as bacterial diseases, which cause heavy damage to the crop every year. Alternaria leaf blight, powdery mildew, downy mildew, Fusarium wilt, anthracnose, and bacterial wilt are important maladies of this crop. To reduce yield losses by the disease, a complete knowledge of its disease control approaches is required. Major diseases of muskmelon are discussed in this chapter.