Diseases of Vegetable, Ornamental and Spice Crops

Lecture 14

Introduction:

Cucurbits, member of family Cucurbitaceae, form an important group of vegetable crops in different parts of the world. The family contains 9 genera and 16 species which are cultivated as vegetables. In India, cucurbits like ash gourd, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, cucumber, spong gourd, long melon or snake cucumber, kundru, muskmelon, pointed gourd, pumpkin, ridge gourd, snake gourd, squash, round gourd and watermelon are cultivated round the year in one other region of the country. During cultivation these crops are attacked by a number of fungal, bacterial and virus diseases which cause huge losses. Different diseases affecting cucurbits are described in this lecture.