Effect of Curly Top and Cucumber Mosaic Viruses on Cantaloups

Abstract

Cantaloup plants were inoculated in experimental plots with cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and curly top virus (CTV) separately and in combination. CMV is transmitted predominantly by the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) and CTV only by the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus (Baker)). Inoculations were made when plants were in the six-leaf stage of development. Plants inoculated with CMV, either alone or in combination with CTV, were smaller and produced smaller melons. Size of plants or melons was not affected by CTV alone. Yield of marketable melons was reduced 32% over the uninoculated checks for CTV alone, 40% for CMV, and 68% in plots inoculated with both viruses.