Confidence against powdery mildew
Px Defense™ melon varieties offer a natural, intermediate resistance to powdery mildew. The Px Defense™ label is awarded exclusively to varieties that currently show resistance to all known races 2, 3, 3.5, 5, 6 and 7. This helps growers reduce disease pressure and cultivate healthier, more resilient crops. By supporting a more sustainable production approach, Px Defense™ enables the consistent delivery of high‑quality melons that meet market demands for reliability, quality and responsible cultivation across the entire value chain.
Benefits of Px Defense™
Limited use of chemicals
Better protection against powdery mildew with a significantly reduced number of treatments and lower costs.
Higher fruit quality
A healthy crop supports optimal photosynthesis, resulting in melons with higher Brix levels.
Reliable supply
More sustainable and reliable production, even under challenging crop management conditions.
Why growers trust Px Defense varieties
As the options for controlling powdery mildew become increasingly limited, Px Defense supports more effective pest management. Intermediate resistance does not mean you can stop managing the disease entirely. But thanks to Px Defense, you’re far better protected and can significantly reduce the number of treatments you apply.
What damage does powdery mildew cause?
Powdery mildew is a major fungal disease affecting all types of melons. The disease damages leaves and stems, reducing the plant’s photosynthetic capacity and ultimately leading to lower-quality fruits due to a lack of sugars.
Trial-proven performance
The Px Defense varieties have been extensively trialled, both at our own facilities and in selected growers’ fields. Besides assessing yield, uniformity, quality and reliability, we also validated the resistance. There is a crystal-clear difference between varieties with and without broad Px Defense resistance.
Continuing to monitor powdery mildew together
Px Defense melon varieties offer extra protection, but the fungus can still be present at a low infection level. This brings the risk of mutation of the fungus and breaking down the resistance. That’s why alertness remains necessary. We will continue to monitor powdery mildew closely, in collaboration with you.
Melon types with Px Defense
We already offer Galia melon varieties with the Px Defense label in our high-quality Galuna line. In the future, new varieties with this label will also be launched in other melon types.