2Department of Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003.
Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608101, Tamil Nadu
1This research has been financed in part by a grant made by the United States Department of Agrilculture under PL 480.
Sixtynine muskmelon accessions were screened for resistance to D. cucurbitae. While nine of the accessions was found resistant, 7 accessions were susceptible and the rest highly susceptible to the fruit fly. However, Cucumis callosus a wild melon was highly resistant in the preliminary and confirmatory screening tests. In view of its high resistance to the fruit fly and crossability with the cultivars, C. callosus is likely to prove valuable in breeding melons resistant to D. cucurbitae.
