Effects of different rootstocks on the growth,yield,quality,and resis-tance to wilt disease in watermelon

CHEN Yi; XUE Yuxing; MA Jianxiang; ZHANG Yong; WEI Chunhua; ZHANG Xian; LI Hao

doi:10.16861/j.cnki.zggc.2025.0002

Abstract：Fusarium wilt is the primary factor causing continuous cropping obstacles in watermelon,and grafting is an ef-fective method for controlling this disease.Linglongwang was used as scion,and different materials including watermel-on inbred line M08,wild watermelon germplasm ZTC,hybrid combination M08×ZTC,and white-seeded pumpkin were used as rootstocks,with seedling and self-rooted seedling of Linglongwang as the control,this study investigated the ef-fects of four different rootstock grafting treatments on watermelon growth,Fusarium wilt resistance,fruit yield,and quali-ty in protected continuous cropping fields.The results showed that compared with seedlings grown from seeds,the inci-dence rate and disease index of Fusarium wilt in watermelon plants grafted onto the four rootstocks were all reduced.Among them,white-seeded pumpkin exhibited the best Fusarium wilt resistance,followed by ZTC.Grafting onto white-seeded pumpkin,ZTC,or M08 × ZTC all promoted watermelon growth,with yields significantly increasing by 167.71％,67.70％,and 51.55％,respectively,compared to the seed-grown seedlings of the Linglongwang cultivar.A com-prehensive evaluation of watermelon fruit quality using the subordinate function value method indicated that ZTC as root-stock improved fruit quality,while grafting onto other rootstocks led to a decline in quality.Therefore,ZTC can be used as rootstock for high-quality watermelon production in continuous cropping fields.