Standardization of screening protocol and evaluation of bottle gourd genotypes against gummy stem disease caused by Fusarium verticillioides

The screening protocol for evaluation of resistance level against gummy stem (Fusarium verticillioides), which is a newly emerging disease in Punjab is lacking. To standardize the screening protocol seven different inoculum delivery methods were tested which comprised of sick soil culture technique (SSCT), microbial bit inoculation technique (MBIT), spray inoculation technique (SIT), combinations of SSCT + MBIT, SSCT + SIT, MBIT + SIT and SSCT + MBIT + SIT. Among these inoculation methods, maximum disease incidence was recorded with combination of SSCT + MBIT. Three genotypes namely PBOG 25, PBOG-8 and PBOG-3 exhibited moderately resistant reaction while five genotypes viz. PBOG-40, PBOG-7, BOGL-1, PBOG-1-L, and PBOG-2 were found to be moderately susceptible against stem gummosis and slow vine decline disease.