Reaction of Ten Cultivars of Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) to a Puerto Rican population of Meloidogyne incognita.

Ten cultivars of watermelon were evaluated for their response to a Puerto Rican population of Meloidogyne incognita under greenhouse conditions in a 2-year study (1989 and 1990). Ten-day-old seedlings were planted in steam-sterilized soil in 15-cm-d plastic pots. The nematode inoculum consisted of 10,000 eggs and (or) second-stage juveniles (J2)/plant. The cultivars were Sugar Baby, Charleston Gray, Seedless, Prince Charles, Charleston 76, Jubilee, Florida Giant, Royal Charleston, Royal Sweet, and Royal Jubilee, with tomato cv. Rutgers included as a susceptible check. A completely randomized design with 10 replications was used. Fifty-five days after soil infestation, root-gall indices, numbers of nematode eggs per root system, and J2 per 250 cm(3) of soil were recorded. All cultivars were susceptible. Sugar Baby had the lowest root-gall index, egg and J2 numbers, and a reproductive factor (Rf) of 2.89. Rf differed (P </= 0.05) among cultivars and ranged up to 7.36. Sugar Baby, Seedless, and Florida Giant showed the lowest susceptibility to M. incognita, whereas Charleston 76 and Charleston Gray were the most susceptible.