Influence of Seedling Age at Infection and Watering Frequency on Growth and Yield Responses of Eggplant to Cucumber Mosaic Virus

Abstract

Eggplant, (Solanum melongena L), cv. golden beauty obtained from the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Nigeria was used in greenhouse  experiments aimed at evaluating the interactive effect of infection of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, genus Cucumovirus; Family-Bromoviridae) at different ages of direct- seeded eggplant and varying watering frequency. Infected plants generally manifested mosaic symptoms and stunting, with the growth and yield responses varying with the inoculation and watering regimes. Plants inoculated earliest, i.e., at 1 week after germination, manifested the most severe symptoms while those inoculated latest at 3 weeks after germination manifested the least severity. Regardless of the inoculation regime, plants that were watered once or thrice a week with 500ml of water each time performed poorer than those that received twice. On the whole, plants that were inoculated at a relatively older age of 3 weeks after germination and received water twice a week performed better under infection than other treatment combinations in term of growth and yield values. The results suggest that careful manipulation of planting and watering may be an effective cultural disease management strategy in CMV infected eggplant.