@article{rivera-burgos_silverman_sari_wehner_2021, title={Evaluation of Resistance to Gummy Stem Blight in a Population of Recombinant Inbred Lines of Watermelon x Citron}, volume={56}, ISSN={["2327-9834"]}, DOI={10.21273/HORTSCI15599-20}, abstractNote={Gummy stem blight (GSB), a major disease caused by Stagonosporopsis cucurbitacearum (syn. Didymella bryoniae ), has caused significant losses of watermelon in the United States. The lack of progress in the development of resistant cultivars is the result of complex inheritance of resistance and breeding strategies that rely on single-plant selection. Because the sources of resistance are wild watermelon relatives, good fruit quality has been difficult to maintain during the selection process. Three hundred recombinant inbred line (RILs) in a population that carries resistance genes to GSB as well as good fruit quality were produced. This was accomplished by crossing and intercrossing resistant plant introductions, crossing the resulting progenies with elite cultivars, intercrossing those progenies, and, finally, self-pollinating to the S 3 generation. The 300 RILs were evaluated for disease severity and fruit morphological and quality traits under greenhouse and field conditions in a randomized complete block design with 10 replications and 3 years. The means and correlations for disease severity ratings and fruit quality traits were estimated. Approximately 186 RILs had disease severity ratings below the mean value of the disease assessment scale (4.5), indicating that they possibly carry one or more genes for resistance to GSB. All disease severity ratings were correlated to each other ( r = 0.67–0.98; P < 0.001), but they were not correlated with fruit quality traits. Most importantly, several resistant RILs showed good to excellent fruit quality. Our results provide evidence of improved germplasm with high resistance and good fruit quality.}, number={3}, journal={HORTSCIENCE}, author={Rivera-Burgos, Luis A. and Silverman, Emily and Sari, Nebahat and Wehner, Todd C.}, year={2021}, month={Mar}, pages={380–388} }
 @article{rivera-burgos_silverman_wehner_2021, title={NC-GSB-524W, NC-GSB-527W, NC-GSB-528W, NC-GSB-530W, NC-GSB-531W, and NC-GSB-532W Watermelon Lines with Gummy Stem Blight Resistance and Good Fruit Quality}, volume={56}, ISSN={["2327-9834"]}, DOI={10.21273/HORTSCI16095-21}, abstractNote={"NC-GSB-524W, NC-GSB-527W, NC-GSB-528W, NC-GSB-530W, NC-GSB-531W, and NC-GSB-532W Watermelon Lines with Gummy Stem Blight Resistance and Good Fruit Quality" published on Dec 2021 by American Society for Horticultural Science.}, number={12}, journal={HORTSCIENCE}, author={Rivera-Burgos, Luis A. and Silverman, Emily J. and Wehner, Todd C.}, year={2021}, month={Dec}, pages={1599–1604} }
 @article{guner_pesic-vanesbroeck_rivera-burgos_wehner_2019, title={Screening for Resistance to Zucchini yellow mosaic virus in the Watermelon Germplasm}, volume={54}, ISSN={["2327-9834"]}, DOI={10.21273/HORTSCI13325-18}, abstractNote={The Florida strain of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV-FL) is one of the major viral diseases of watermelon [ Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai]. Although some screening has been performed for ZYMV resistance in watermelon, the germplasm collection has not been screened extensively for resistance. The objectives of this study were to screen the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) watermelon germplasm collection for ZYMV resistance and to verify the disease rating for the most resistant and most susceptible accessions. We used a randomized complete block with four replications, 1613 PI accessions, and 41 cultivars. ‘Charleston Gray’ and ‘Crimson Sweet’ susceptible controls were used to verify that the ZYMV inoculum was virulent. After the last rating, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to determine the presence of a virus in the plant tissue. The PI accessions with high resistance to ZYMV-FL that also exhibited resistance to other watermelon viruses were PI 595203, PI 386015, PI 386016, PI 386024, PI 386025, PI 386026, PI 244018, PI 244019, PI 485583, PI 494528, and PI 494529. The ZYMV-FL retest of the most resistant 46 PI accessions showed that there were some escapes. Sixteen resistant PI accessions had a rating of 3.0 or less for the average and maximum ratings: PI 595203, PI 537277, PI 560016, PI 386016, PI 386019, PI 485580, PI 494529, PI 595200, PI 494528, PI 595201, PI 386025, PI 494530, PI 386015, PI 386021, PI 386026, and PI 596662. Overall, PI 595203 had the highest resistance according to both the germplasm screening and the retest studies.}, number={2}, journal={HORTSCIENCE}, author={Guner, Nihat and Pesic-VanEsbroeck, Zvezdana and Rivera-Burgos, Luis A. and Wehner, Todd C.}, year={2019}, month={Feb}, pages={206–211} }
 @article{guner_pesic-vanesbroeck_rivera-burgos_wehner_2018, title={Inheritance of Resistance to Papaya Ringspot Virus-Watermelon Strain in Watermelon}, volume={53}, ISSN={0018-5345 2327-9834}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.21273/hortsci12944-18}, DOI={10.21273/hortsci12944-18}, abstractNote={Sources of resistance to the watermelon strain of papaya ringspot virus-watermelon strain (PRSV-W) have been identified within the watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus ) germplasm collection. Inheritance of the resistance to PRSV-W was studied in three Citrullus amarus (formerly C. lanatus var. citroides ) PI accessions: PI 244017, PI 244019, and PI 485583. Three susceptible parent lines, ‘Allsweet’, ‘Calhoun Gray’, and ‘New Hampshire Midget’, were crossed with resistant PI accessions to develop F 1 , F 2 , and BC 1 progenies in six families. A single recessive gene was found to control the resistance to PRSV-W in all three resistant PI accessions. Allelism tests indicated that the three PI accessions carry the same resistance allele to PRSV-W. The gene symbol ‘ prv ’ is proposed for PRSV-W resistance in PI 244017, PI 244019, and PI 485583 in watermelon.}, number={5}, journal={HortScience}, publisher={American Society for Horticultural Science}, author={Guner, Nihat and Pesic-VanEsbroeck, Zvezdana and Rivera-Burgos, Luis A. and Wehner, Todd C.}, year={2018}, month={May}, pages={624–627} }