Resistance in Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima germplasms to cucumber mosaic virus

A total of 384 Cucurbita pepo and Cucurbita maxima accessions were evaluated in growth chambers or glasshouse tests for resistance to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Seedlings were mechanically inoculated at the cotyledon stage, and scored for symptoms on cotyledons and true leaves 7 and 18 days after inoculation. Significant variation in resistance was found. A limited number of accessions were free of visual symptoms of infection. One C. pepo accession and thirteen C. maxima accessions showed a high level of resistance. Generally, C. maxima may be considered more resistant to CMV compared to C. pepo. There is no close relationship between origin, fruit morphotypes and CMV resistance in either species. Some accessions (e.g., C. pepo PI 438699; C. maxima PI 176530, PI 265555, PI 368564, PI 500483) could be useful for the future breeding programmes. The C. pepo cvs. 'Cinderella' and 'Defender' F1, previously described as resistant, showed maximum susceptibility to the yellow strain of CMV.