Occurrence of Diseases and Case of Clinical Diagnosis on Watermelon in South Korea, 2008-2012

The socio-network activities for regional governments, agricultural research institutes, developing agencies and policy makers of any countries are very crucial and important to take into account the root cause of current problems faced by farmers. The survey was conducted in South Korea during the period January, 2008 to August, 2012 in order to shed light on prevalence of different diseases on watermelon in different regions and to better understand farmers’ knowledge and perceptions for following watemelon’s growing procedures and practices. A total of 590 cases were reported on 573 watermelon growers with highest 87.1% in Jeonbuk, 4.7% in Jeonnam, and 8.2% in other regions such as Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Chungnam, Gwangju, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Gangwon, Changwon and Seoul. The maximum percentages of cases recorded were related to diseases and insect pest (38.6%) followed by physiological disorder (29.7%), cultural practices (18.8%), soil and fertilizer (9.0%), herbicide (2.9%) and others (1.0%). It was observed that the manifestation aspects of the diseases were changed due to increasing in proportion of ‘in-facility’ cultivation to 12,995 ha compared to ‘open-field’ cultivation (2,722 ha). The present survey revealed the necessity to reduce the damages incurred at watermelon farms as soon as possible through the breeding program to develop resistant cultivar, use of pathogen-free propagating plants, and efficient prevention of pathogen by regular monitoring of watermelon plants at farms.