Identification of sources of seedling resistance to Phytophthora capsici in Cucumis melo

The employment of genetic resistance to minimize yield losses induced by Phytophthora capsici remains unexplored in melon (Cucumis melo). A diverse collection of melon accessions was evaluated against P. capsici isolates at the seedling stage. In the first screening assay, 105 accessions were evaluated using isolate PCpe-04 obtained from cucumber (Cucumis sativus). In a second assay, 31 accessions displaying high levels of resistance in the first assay were challenged with a distinct isolate (PCpe-09 also from cucumber). In a third assay, a subset of 14 selected accessions was re-evaluated usi...