Vol. 9, Special Issue 9, Part A (2025)

Cucurbits, including cucumbers, melons, watermelons, pumpkins, and squashes, hold significant value as horticultural commodities with global economic significance. Their cultivation faces severe threats from diverse biotic stresses such as bacterial, fungal, viral pathogens, and insect pests, causing considerable reductions in productivity and quality. Conventional breeding methods have traditionally been essential in developing resistant cultivars but encounter challenges due to pathogen evolution and linkage drag. Recently, molecular breeding technologies such as marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, as well as genome editing tools like that CRISPR/Cas9 have transformed the process of breeding for resistance, enabling accurate and effective incorporation of genes. This review synthesizes current breeding strategies, significant advancements, and future prospects for sustainably enhancing biotic stress resistance in cucurbits.