Melon (Cucumis melo L.) and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum and Nakai) belong to the family Cucurbitaceae. Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) disease of cucurbits is an economically devastating plant disease that has caused an estimated loss of up to $450M on watermelon crops and $75M (worldwide) to the seed and transplant industries since 1996. Disease symptoms include water-soaked cotyledons, leaf necrosis, and internal fruit rot. Current commercial management strategies are very limited and include: seed production field sanitation, greenhouse transplant sanitation, copper-based bactericide sprays, crop rotation, disease-free healthy seeds, isolating diseased plants, and peroxyacetic acid seed treatments. The seedborne disease is usually spread by contaminated seeds, and there is a zero-tolerance policy in the seed industry for infected seeds. No nondestructive assays are commercially available to detect BFB in seeds. This research investigated several different aspects of BFB disease such as non-destructive seed detection, green tea seed treatment, candidate NB-LRR genes for disease resistance, and optimization of virus induced gene silencing for melon and watermelon crops. The potential application of attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and high-resolution X-ray analysis methods for detection of BFB on seeds were evaluated. It was possible to detect BFB in seeds that were pistil inoculated via x-ray imaging and pericarp inoculated via ATR FT-IR. In vitro and in vivo experiments evaluated the potential of tea (Camellia sinensis) and tea polyphenols as seed treatments to sanitize seeds infected with A. citrulli. Green tea unlike black tea inhibited growth of A. citrulli because of polyphenols. Eighty one melon and forty four watermelon NB-LRR genes were reidentified, and genes that have potential resistance against A. citrulli on melon plants were screened based on host selectivity of the pathogen. Finally, the virus-induced, gene-silencing method was optimized for melon and watermelon for further analysis of potential disease resistance genes. BFB can be nondestructively identified in seeds and green tea may be an effective seed treatment with further development. Promising candidate R genes were identified that might confer stable resistance in the right genetic background. / Doctor of Philosophy / Melon and watermelon crops both belong to the gourd family. Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) disease of cucurbits is an economically devastating plant disease that has caused an estimated loss of up to $450M on watermelon crops and $75M (worldwide) to the seed and transplant industries since 1996. Disease symptoms include water-soaked cotyledons, leaf necrosis, and internal fruit rot. Current commercial management strategies and detection methods are very limited. The seedborne disease is usually spread by contaminated seeds, and there is a zero-tolerance policy in the seed industry for infected seeds. This research investigated several different aspects of BFB disease such as non-destructive seed detection, green tea seed treatment, candidate disease resistance genes, and optimization of virus induced gene silencing methodology for melon and watermelon crops. There are currently no nondestructive assays available to detect BFB in seeds. We evaluated the potential application of attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and high-resolution X-ray analysis methods for detection of BFB on seeds. It was possible to detect BFB inside layers of seeds that were naturally inoculated through the flowers via x-ray imaging and seedcoat inoculated via ATR FT-IR. In vitro and in vivo experiments evaluated the potential of tea and tea constituents as seed treatments to sanitize seeds infected with BFB. Green tea unlike black tea inhibited growth of BFB. Eighty one melon and forty four watermelon disease resistance genes were reidentified and genes that have potential resistance against BFB on melon plants were screened based on host selectivity of the pathogen. Finally, the virus induced gene silencing method was optimized for melon and watermelon plants for further analysis of potential disease resistance genes. BFB can be nondestructively identified in seeds and green tea may be an effective seed treatment with further development. Promising candidate resistance genes were identified that might confer stable resistance in the right genetic background.