Aphid-borne viruses infecting cultivated watermelon and squash in Spain

Aphid borne viruses are responsible for major plant diseases, we monitored for three consecutive (2018-2020) seasons, the presence of aphid-borne viruses from a total of 292 samples of watermelon and squash that showed yellowing symptoms. The samples were collected from three major cucurbit-producing areas (Castilla La-Mancha, Alicante and Murcia) in Spain. We found that cucurbit aphid-borne yellow virus (CABYV) was the most common virus found (29%) in the plants from both crops. Likewise, except for squash samples from Castilla La-Mancha and Alicante, watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) was also found (23%) with a relatively high frequency in watermelon plants, while the occurrences of PRSV and ZYMV were low (