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Bacterial fruit blotch found on melon and watermelon in Israel

A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases

February 16, 2006
From: ProMED-mail<promed@promedmail.org>
Source: European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), Reporting Service, 2006 No.12 [edited] <http://archives.eppo.org/EPPOReporting/Reporting_Archives.htm>

The NPPO of Israel (Plant Protection and Inspection Services) informed the EPPO Secretariat that the bacterium _Acidovorax avenae_ subsp. _citrulli_, a quarantine pest for Israel, has been found infecting watermelon (_Citrullus lanatus_) and melon (_Cucumis melo_) at a limited number of production sites. Eradication measures have been implemented at these sites and national surveillance is ongoing.

The status of _Acidovorax avenae_ subsp. _citrulli_ in Israel is officially declared as follows: Present, only in some areas, under eradication.

Source: NPPO of Israel, 2006-01
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Bacterial fruit blotch has great potential to cause significant economic losses to cucurbit production and has been responsible for up to 90 percent losses of marketable yield in some watermelon fields. Although all cucurbits are susceptible, bacterial fruit blotch is only a problem on watermelon. The fruit symptoms (irregularly shaped water-soaked lesions with cracks) that are most obvious and distinctive. Fruit blotch can be introduced in infected
seeds as part of the international seed trade. PCR-based detection methods in seed are being developed. Use of clean seed and disease-free transplants is necessary in order to manage the disease. Because the pathogen is seedborne, and a significant portion of commercial watermelon fields are planted with seedlings raised in greenhouses or other transplant production facilities, recognition of symptoms on seedlings is important. Control in the field involves rotation out of cucurbits and control of volunteer watermelon plants. Sprinkler irrigation can lead to spread through the field.

Links:

<http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r116101711.html>
<http://www.apsnet.org/education/LessonsPlantPath/BacterialBlotch/Default.htm>
<http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/management/bacterialblotch/>
<http://www.tpp.uq.edu.au/disease/research/a12c04.htm>
- Mod.JAD]

[see also in the
archive:
2001
----
Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae, rice - Burkina Faso 20010714.1362]

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