Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the most important vegetable crop of the world, including Pakistan where it rank number one among all vegetables both in production and consumption. Although bacterial diseases (such as blackleg and soft rot) cause substantial damage to potato crop in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa provience of Pakistan, yet no significant research was carried out so far on any aspect of these economically important biotic stresses. Current status of both diseases and aspects of pathogens involved were documented in this book. Aqueous neem extracts decreased disease incidence and severity along with enhancement in yield per plant. Fertilizer dose combination of N3P1K3 (262/252/262 kg.ha-1) suppressed disease to a minimum with increased tuber yield. Among the tested potato germplasm, none of the cultivar displayed resistance to blackleg and soft rot. Findings presented in this book will be useful to students, scientists and potato producers in many regions of the world.

Cucurbits including bottle gourd, sponge gourd, bitter gourd, pumpkin and cucumber are important vegetables around the world. Different viral diseases adversely affect cucurbit production. Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) is an important seed transmitted virus of cucurbits. CGMMV was widespread in cucurbit crops of the studied regions of Pakistan. Coat protein gene of the detected isolate from Pakistan (CGMMV-Pak) had a very high similarity with isolates from other regions of the world. Amino acid sequence was highly conserved. No diversity was observed in coat protein gene sequence of CGMMV-Pak with the other sequences based on phylogenetic relationship. Certain dry heat and chemical treatments of infected bottle gourd seeds were found effective in inactivating virus particles and checked seed transmission of CGMMV. Findings presented in this book will be useful to students, scientists and cucurbit producers in many regions of the world.