Acceptance and Colonisation data of 275 Cucumis melo lines by Aphis gossypii

Cucumis melo is a cucurbit species with high phenotypic variability, that is organized in botanical groups. One of its major pests is the cosmopolitan aphid species Aphis gossypii, which reproduces clonally on secondary hosts including cucurbits. This paper describes two phenotypic traits for aphid resistance in 275 melon lines. Both acceptance and colonisation traits were characterized using 17 Aphis gossypii clones. Data were collected on individual plantlets after infestation by ten adults of a given clone. Acceptance was observed 72 h after infestation, as the number of adult aphids remaining on a plantlet. Colonisation was estimated seven days after inoculation by an index that took into account nymph density and the number of adults. The biotests were conducted from 2004 to 2024 on 13,985 plantlets cultivated in a climatic chamber. The melon line seeds were obtained from INRAE CRB-Leg [1]. Melon lines tested belong to 17 botanical groups [2] and originated worldwide. Aphid clones, which were all collected on cucurbits, came from the alive INRAE-GAFL collection. The clones belonged to ten Multi-Locus-Genotypes built from eight SSR markers [3]. This dataset can be used to analyse host plant resistance to different clones of an aphid species in relation with melon line origin. Lines exhibiting 'Acceptance' and/or 'Colonisation' lower than three can be considered as resistant lines. Lines exhibiting negative 'Colonisation' values can be considered as extremely resistant lines. Lines exhibiting 'Acceptance' and/or 'Colonisation' higher than seven can be considered as susceptible lines. Line seeds can be requested for research purpose at https://eng-gafl.paca.hub.inrae.fr/vegetable-germplasm-centre/use-our-genetic-resources. Aphid clones can be requested to pascale.mistral@inrae.fr.