Five Viruses Isolated from Field-Grown Buffalo Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima), a Potential Crop for Semiarid Lands

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Abstract
Five distinct plant viruses were isolated from greenhouse-maintained cuttings of buffalo gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) taken from plants grown in germ plasma nurseries near Tucson, AZ[Arizona, USA]. Both single and mixed viral infections were associated with symptomatic plants in the field. Viruses were distinguished from one another by mechanical and/or insect transmission, particle morphology, experimental host range, and serology. Four of the viruses were mechanically transmissible: cucumber mosaic virus, watermelon mosaic virus 1, squash mosaic virus 2, and the recently identified whitefly-transmissible geminivirus, watermelon curly mottle virus. The fifth, lettuce infectious yellow virus, is exclusively whitefly-transmissible. Although these plant viruses are known to infect cultivated cucurbits, an investigation of naturally occurring viruses of buffalo gourd in Arizona had not been undertaken.