Abstract Fifty-five watermelon accessions were inoculated in pots using Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum chlamydospores in a completely randomized design with five replications. Among the 42 accessions that were resistant, twelve accessions with a mean score ≤1 were selected for morpho-agronomic characterization. ‘Sugar Baby’ and ‘Charleston Gray’ were used as controls. Field research was conducted over two production cycles in a randomized block design with three replications and five plants per plot. For the characterization 13 quantitative agronomic traits were used. The dissimilarity measures were obtained by the sum of the matrices of standardized mean Euclidean distance. Coefficients of variation ranged from 5.33% (number of days until 50% of plants with at least one female flower) and 17.20% (mass of characterized fruit). In the second cycle, a reduction in days was observed for the flowering. For soluble solids content, the accession BGH-UNIVASF 40 was statistically equal to the commercial cultivars in the second cycle. Accessions were grouped similarly using two grouping methods, Tocher and the farthest neighbor method. The most promising accessions were BGH-UNIVASF 40, 169, 177 and 210 for use in future hybridizations. BGH-UNIVASF 76, 128 and 185 (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) can be used as resistant Fusarium wilt rootstocks.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar o efeito de doses de silicato de potássio em condições de casa de vegetação e campo, na proteção do cafeeiro contra Cercospora coffeicola, além de avaliar o efeito do silicato de potássio nas atividades de peroxidase, polifenoloxidase, e no conteúdo de pigmentos e lignina solúvel em ácido. Utilizou-se em casa de vegetação o silicato de potássio nas doses de 0,75; 1,5; 3,0; 6,0 mL/L de água. Em casa de vegetação, a dose de 1,5 mL/L proporcionou maior proteção da cercosporiose em mudas de cafeeiro, sendo esta dose utilizada no campo e nas determinações bioquímicas. No campo, o silicato de potássio proporcionou proteção de 31% em relação à testemunha, ao passo que o fungicida epoxiconazole + piraclostrobin proporcionou proteção de 61%. Parte desta proteção conferida por silicato de potássio pode ser explicada pelo aumento nas atividades de peroxidases, polifenoloxidases e o maior acúmulo de lignina.

The objective of this work was to study the effect of potassium silicate doses in greenhouse and field conditions, for the protection of coffee seedlings against Cercospora coffeicola, and to evaluate the effect of potassium silicate on the activities of peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase and on the content of lignin, carotenoids and chlorophyll a and b. Potassium silicate was tested in greenhouse at doses 0.75, 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 mL/L of water. In these conditions, the dose of 1.5 mL/L provided greater protection against brown eye spot on coffee seedlings, this dose having been chosen for the field trial and biochemical determinations. In the field, potassium silicate provided protection of 31% in relation to the control, while the fungicide mixture of the epoxiconazole + pyraclostrobin provided 61% of protection. Part of this protection conferred by potassium silicate can be explained by the increase in the activities of peroxidases, polifenoloxidases and the higher accumulation of lignin.