A Contrast of Three Inoculation Techniques used to Determine the Race of Unknown Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum Isolates.

Fusarium wilt of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (Fon), has reemerged as a major production constraint in the southeastern USA, especially in Florida. Deployment of integrated pest management strategies, such as race-specific resistant cultivars, requires information on the diversity and population density of the pathogen in growers' fields. Despite some progress in developing molecular diagnostic tools to identify pathogen isolates, race determination often requires bioassay approaches. Race typing was conducted by root-dip inoculation, infested kernel seeding method, and the modified tray-dip method with each of the four watermelon differentials (Black Diamond, Charleston Grey, Calhoun Grey, Plant Introduction 296341-FR). Isolates are assigned a race designation by calculation of disease incidence five weeks after inoculation. If less than 33% of the plants for a particular cultivar were symptomatic, they were categorized as resistant. Those cultivars with incidence greater than 33% were regarded as susceptible. This paper describes three different methods of inoculation to ascertain race, root-dip, infested kernel, and modified tray-dip inoculation, whose applications vary according to the experimental design.