Phytophthora melonis Associated with Fruit and Vine Rot Disease of Pointed Gourd in India as Revealed by RFLP and Sequencing of ITS Region

Pointed gourd is an important tropical high value vegetable crop, which is mainly affected by fruit and vine rot disease in field conditions. Causal organism of this devastating disease is Phytophthora melonis as revealed through morphological criteria as well as by molecular tools based on the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of non-coding Internal Transcriber Spacer (ITS) region and ITS sequencing. Sequencing of ITS region of our Ph. melonis isolate has 100% similarity with the five isolates of GenBank including a Ph. sinensis. The pathogen, Ph. melonis, is a new report from India and as regards host ranges a possible new report globally