Viral diseases

Credits:Biovision-Infonet

Many important virus diseases affect cucurbits. These include:

Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV)

Watermelon mosaic 2 potyvirus (WMV-2)

Watermelon mosaic 1 potyvirus

Zucchini yellow mosaic potyvirus (ZYMV)

Squash leaf curl bigeminivirus (SLCV)

What to do:

• Use tolerant / or resistant varieties if available.
• Remove infected plants (disinfect hands and tools with 70% alcohol after contact with infected plants).
• Do proper weeding.
• Control insect vectors. A sustainable approach of controlling aphids is important to prevent aphids reaching the crops and transmitting virus.
• In case of squash mosaic virus use disease-free seeds.