Biochemical and histological deviations induced in muskmelon by mosaic disease and its impact on yield and quality

Mosaic disease of muskmelon, caused by Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Watermelon mosaic virus-1 (WMV-1) induced changes in vital biochemicals like chlorophyll, ranging from 14.37 to 54.93 per cent and carotenoids from 30.66 to 70.41 per cent in the leaves. The viruses also caused severe histological deviations in the infected leaf tissue, like disintegration of tissue, hypertrophy, compactness of tissue and decrease in number of chloroplasts in the cells depending upon the virulence of the isolates. These biochemical and histological changes rendered the vines of very poor vigour with marked reduction in vine length in the range of 7.47 to 48.70 per cent and number of branches per vine. As a result, only few, small sized fruits of poor quality were produced.