NEW SOURCE OF RESISTANCE TO FUSARIUM-WILT IN LOCAL GERMPLASM OF CUCUMIS MELO

In Apulia Region, in Southern Italy, a relic of melon cultivar, named “Carosello” [Cucumis melo L. subsp. melo, conv. adzhur (Pang) Grebensc], normally used as immature fruit, is extensively grown. In Apulia Region there is a large variability of local ecotype of “Carosello” selected by individual growers. In the last years, severe attacks of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis on “Carosello” crops determined a significant reduction of the cultivated areas. The monitoring of the physiological specialization of F. Oxysporum f. sp. melonis isolates deriving from affected plants of melon (Apulia and Albania) and “Carosello” (Apulia) has allowed ascertaining that all isolates belong to race 0 of F. Oxysporum f. sp. melonis. In a screening on numerous local germplasm of “Carosello” collected in Apulia Region, two ecotypes, named BA1-7 and LE3-1, were found to be resistant to race 0 of F. Oxysporum f. sp. melonis. From the analysis of inheritance was proved that the identified resistance in the local ecotypes BA1-7 and LE3-1 is monogenic and dominant signed as Fox1 and Fox1A respectively. The following allelic analysis showed that Fox1 and Fox1A were similar but different from Fom-1 resistance gene to F. Oxysporum f. sp. melonis in melon.