Southern root-knot nematode (RKN, Meloidogyne incognita) is a serious pest of cultivated watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) in southern regions of the United States and no resistance is known to exist in commercial watermelon cultivars. Wild watermelon relatives (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) have been shown in greenhouse studies to possess varying degrees of resistance to RKN species. Experiments were conducted over 2 yr to assess resistance of southern RKN in C. lanatus var. citroides accessions from the U.S. Watermelon Plant Introduction Collection in an artificially infested field site at the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, SC. In the first study (2006), 19 accessions of C. lanatus var. citroides were compared with reference entries of Citrullus colocynthis and C. lanatus var. lanatus. Of the wild watermelon accessions, two entries exhibited significantly less galling than all other entries. Five of the best performing C. lanatus var. citroides accessions were evaluated with and without nematicide at the same field site in 2007. Citrullus lanatus var. citroides accessions performed better than C. lanatus var. lanatus and C. colocynthis. Overall, most entries of C. lanatus var. citroides performed similarly with and without nematicide treatment in regard to root galling, visible egg masses, vine vigor, and root mass. In both years of field evaluations, most C. lanatus var. citroides accessions showed lesser degrees of nematode reproduction and higher vigor and root mass than C. colocynthis and C. lanatus var. lanatus. The results of these two field evaluations suggest that wild watermelon populations may be useful sources of resistance to southern RKN.

Root-knot nematode-resistant rootstock lines (designated RKVL for Root-Knot Vegetable Laboratory) derived from wild watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) were compared with wild tinda (Praecitrullus fistulosus) lines and commercial cucurbit rootstock cultivars for grafting of seedless triploid watermelon ‘Tri-X 313’ (C. lanatus var. lanatus) in a field infested with the southern root-knot nematode (RKN) (Meloidogyne incognita) in Charleston, SC, during 2009 and 2010. In both years, RKN infection was severe in ‘Emphasis’ bottle gourd, ‘Strong Tosa’ hybrid squash, and wild tinda rootstocks with galling of the root system ranging from 86% to 100%. In 2009, the RKVL wild watermelon rootstocks exhibited lower (P < 0.05) percentages of root galling (range 9% to 16%) than non-grafted ‘Tri-X 313’ (41%), ‘Emphasis’, ‘Strong Tosa’, and the wild tinda rootstocks. The grafted wild watermelon rootstock RKVL 318 produced more (P ≤ 0.05) fruit (12 per plot) than all other entries (mean = five per plot), and it produced a heavier (P ≤ 0.05) fruit yield (29.5 kg per plot) than all entries except self-grafted ‘Tri-X 313’ (21.5 kg per plot). In 2010, soil in half of the plots was treated with methyl bromide (50%):chloropicrin (50%) (392 kg·ha–1) before planting. The RKVL wild watermelon rootstocks exhibited resistance to RKN with percentages of root system galled ranging from 11% for RKVL 316 to 56% for RKVL 301 in the untreated control plots. Fruit yields in the untreated plots were 21.9, 25.6, and 19.9 kg/plot for RKVL 301, RKVL 316, and RKVL 318, respectively. Yields were greater (P ≤ 0.05) for the three RKVL rootstocks than for ‘Strong Tosa’ (3.0 kg) and ‘Ojakkyo’ wild watermelon rootstock (2.8 kg) in the untreated plots. Yields of watermelon grafted on ‘Strong Tosa’ were nearly seven times greater (P ≤ 0.05) in the methyl bromide-treated plots than in the untreated plots. In contrast, yields of RKVL 316 and RKVL 318 were similar in both treatments and the yield of RKVL 301 was less (P ≤ 0.05) in the methyl bromide-treated plots than in the untreated plots. The three RKVL wild watermelon rootstock lines exhibited resistance to RKN. RKVL 316 had low root galling and produced the heaviest fruit yield and greatest numbers of fruit of any rootstock evaluated in 2010. The RKVL lines should be useful sources of RKN resistance for rootstocks for grafted watermelon.

Southern root-knot nematode (RKN, Meloidogyne incognita) is a serious pest of cultivated watermelon (Citrullus lanatus var. lanatus) in southern regions of the United States and no resistance is known to exist in commercial watermelon cultivars. Wild watermelon relatives (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) have been shown in greenhouse studies to possess varying degrees of resistance to RKN species. Experiments were conducted over 2 yr to assess resistance of southern RKN in C. lanatus var. citroides accessions from the U.S. Watermelon Plant Introduction Collection in an artificially infested field site at the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston, SC. In the first study (2006), 19 accessions of C. lanatus var. citroides were compared with reference entries of Citrullus colocynthis and C. lanatus var. lanatus. Of the wild watermelon accessions, two entries exhibited significantly less galling than all other entries. Five of the best performing C. lanatus var. citroides accessions were evaluated with and without nematicide at the same field site in 2007. Citrullus lanatus var. citroides accessions performed better than C. lanatus var. lanatus and C. colocynthis. Overall, most entries of C. lanatus var. citroides performed similarly with and without nematicide treatment in regard to root galling, visible egg masses, vine vigor, and root mass. In both years of field evaluations, most C. lanatus var. citroides accessions showed lesser degrees of nematode reproduction and higher vigor and root mass than C. colocynthis and C. lanatus var. lanatus. The results of these two field evaluations suggest that wild watermelon populations may be useful sources of resistance to southern RKN.