Powdery mildew is a major fungal disease on squash and pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) in the US and throughout the world. Genetic resistance to the disease is not known to occur naturally within Cucurbita pepo and only infrequently in Cucurbita moschata, but has been achieved in both species through the introgression of a major resistance gene from the wild species Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp. mar...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pruning in different developmental stages on growth, development, seed yield and active substances of medicinal pumpkin (these active substances are uses for remedy the Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)). The experiment was performed in a RCB design. Five pruning treatments in different developmental stages (no pruning, after 3-5 nod...

The ovipositional preferences of two squash bug species, Anasa tristis (DeGeer) (Heteroptera: Coreidae) and Anasa armigera Say (Heteroptera: Coreidae), were evaluated in paired choice tests of different species and cultivars of plants in the family Cucurbitaceae. Females of A. tristis preferred to oviposit on the cultivar from which they were reared over three other cultivars of the same specie...

BACKGROUND The genus Cucurbita (pumpkin, squash, gourd) is native to the Americas and diffused to other continents subsequent to the European contact in 1492. For many years, the earliest images of this genus in Europe that were known to cucurbit specialists were the two illustrations of C. pepo pumpkins that were published in Fuchs' De Historia Stirpium, 1542. Images of fruits of two Cucurbita...

Plants response to symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under water stress is important to agriculture. Under abiotic stress conditions native fungi are more effective than exotics in improving plant growth and water status. Mycorrhization efficiency is related to soil fungi development and energy cost-benefit ratio. In this study, we assessed the effect on growth, water status and...

This is the first report, to our knowledge, to reveal important factors by which members of the Cucurbitaceae family, such as cucumber (Cucumis sativus), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), melon (Cucumis melo), pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo), squash (C. pepo), and zucchini (C. pepo), are selectively polluted with highly toxic hydrophobic contaminants, including organochlorine insecticides and dioxins. X...