Effect of female watermelon blossom protection with Acidovorax citrulli
AAC00-1ΔhrcC (type III secretion system mutant), A. avenae (AAA 99-2), or 0.1 M
phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, negative control) on bacterial fruit blotch (BFB)
seedling transmission and seed germination percentages. The experiment was
conducted three times and bars represent the mean BFB incidence or germination
for two experiments (n = 100 seeds/treatment). Lowercase letters represent the
comparison of effects of blossom treatments on BFB seedling transmission, while
uppercase letters indicate the results for comparing the effects of seed treatments
on germination. Treatments with different letters are significantly different according
to Tukey-Kramer’s honestly significant difference.