Control Methods for Anthracnose in Muskmelon Cultivation

It is a fungal disease. Muskmelon anthracnose occurs severely in the middle and late stages of plant growth, mainly damaging stems, leaves and fruits. After harvest, infected fruits will rot in storage and transport when exposed to a humid environment and become unfit to eat. On diseased seedlings, semicircular brown lesions appear on the edges of the cotyledons. The diseased part of young stems is dark brown and constricted, and the melon seedlings easily die. At the adult plant stage, leaf disease appears as black or purplish-black round spots with concentric rings. The lesion areas easily crack and break apart. When melon vines or petioles are affected, spindle-shaped black slightly sunken lesions form. When fruits are affected, dark green water-soaked round small spots appear at first, gradually expanding into dark brown sunken large spots. In a humid environment, pink sticky material oozes from the lesions, producing conidial spore masses of the pathogen, and after the lesions dry up they often crack in a star shape. In severe cases, the lesions join together, causing the fruit to rot. The pathogen overwinters in the soil or on seeds with diseased plant residues. Conidia spread through wind, rain, running water, insects and the activities of humans and livestock. High humidity is an important factor inducing this disease. In years with abundant rainfall, when the temperature is 20-24°C, and the plants grow densely, the disease is most severe.

Control methods: disinfect seeds before sowing or treat seeds with chemicals. Implement a 3-5 year crop rotation. Choose well-drained plots for planting, use high-ridge cultivation, and increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. For chemicals, you can choose 80% zineb 800-fold solution or 70% thiophanate-methyl 1000-fold solution, or 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder 500-600-fold solution for spraying.