5

Pointed Gourd: Botany and

Horticulture

Sanjeev KumarIndian Institute of Vegetable ResearchPO Jakhini-ShahanshahpurVaranasi, 221 305 India

B. D. SinghSchool of BiotechnologyFaculty of ScienceBanaras Hindu UniversityVaranasi, 221 005 India

ABSTRACT

Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is one of themost important cucurbitvegetables in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, particularly in Indiaand Bangladesh. Pointed gourd is morphologically distinct from other cucurbi-taceous species due to its well-established dioecism, perennial nature, and vege-tative means of propagation. Fruits of pointed gourd are rich in proteins andvitamin A and also possess medicinal properties that can lower blood sugar andserum triglycerides. Fruits are consumed in a variety ofways, including vegetablecurry, pickled, and as various confections. They have prolonged market avail-ability, and thehighnutritional andmedicinal valuesofpointedgourd fruitsmakethem a wholesome vegetable. Seed propagation of pointed gourd is undesirabledue to poor germination and unpredictable variation; thus, pointed gourd ismultiplied through stem and root cuttings. Sexual progeny of pointed gourd,obtained throughembryo culture, segregate for stemand leaf characters, revealingthe highly heterozygous nature of pointed gourd clones. Hybridization followedby selection among segregating progeny and clonal selection are promisingapproaches for genetic improvement of this species.

203

Horticultural Reviews, Volume 39, First Edition. Edited by Jules Janick.� 2012 Wiley-Blackwell. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

KEYWORDS: Trichosanthes dioica; Cucurbitaceae; cucurbits; vegetables

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Nutritional and Medicinal Values of Fruits

1. Nutritional Value

2. Medicinal Values

B. Bioactive Compounds

II. BOTANY

A. Origin and Distribution

B. Taxonomy

C. Plant Morphology

1. Plant

2. Flowers

3. Fruits

D. Floral Biology

E. Cytology

F. Genetics

G. Parthenocarpy

III. HORTICULTURE

A. Climate and Soil

B. Spacing

C. Propagation

1. Seed Propagation

2. Vegetative Propagation

3. Tissue Culture

D. Cultivars

E. Cultural Practices

1. Training System

2. Weed Control

F. Harvesting

G. Insect and Disease Management

1. Insect Pests

2. Vine and Fruit Rot

3. Root-knot Nematode

H. Breeding

1. Breeding Methods

2. Biotechnology

I. Evaluation of Elite Lines

IV. FUTURE PROSPECTS

LITERATURE CITED

I. INTRODUCTION

The Cucurbitaceae,Q3 popularly known as cucurbits, provides manyeconomically important vegetable crops, including ash gourd [Beninca-sa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.], bottle gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.)Standl.], bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.), cucumber (Cucumis

Q1, Q2

204 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

sativus L.), ivy gourd [Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt.], melon (Cucumismelo L.), pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.), pumpkin [Cucur-bita moschata (Duch.) ex Poir.], round melon [Praecitrullus fistulosus(Stocks) Pangale], snake gourd [Trichosanthes anguina (L.) Haines],squashes (Cucurbita pepo L. and C. maxima Duch. Ex Lam.), spongegourd (Luffa cylindricaMill.), ridge gourd [Luffa acutangula (L.) Roxb.],and watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai]. In termsof areaunder cultivation and total production,watermelon is theworld’smostwidely cultivated cucurbit, followedbycucumber,melons, squash-es, and pumpkin (FAOSTAT 2008).

Cucurbits are found predominantly in subtropical and tropicalregions of the world since they are frost sensitive (Robinson andDecker-Walters 1999). India has a rich source of cucurbits and isbelieved to be the primary or secondary center of origin for speciessuch as T. dioica, T. anguina, M. charantia, M. dioica, M. cochnchi-nensis, and P. fistulosus (Choudhury 1996; Gopalkrishnan 2007;Pandey 2008). Cucurbits are well known for their economic, cultural,and culinary value and are important crops worldwide. Generally,they are highly adaptable, fast-growing vines with tendrils, and manybear relatively larger fruits (Robinson and Decker-Walters 1999).Cucurbit fruits are used in several different ways: Many are consumedraw when immature (cucumber, summer squash) or mature (musk-melon, watermelon). They can be baked (squash), fried (bitter gourd,bottle gourd, pointed gourd), boiled (wax gourd, snake gourd, pointedgourd), pickled (cucumber, gherkin, ash gourd, pointed gourd),or candied (ash gourd, pointed gourd, watermelon) (Robinson andDecker-Walters 1999).

The perennial pointed gourd is a nutritious cucurbit vegetable and ishighly coveted in the vegetable markets of India and Bangladesh fromFebruary to September. The potential demand for this vegetable in theinternational markets is high since exports in the United States sell for$10/kg at ethnic grocery stores (Singh andWhitehead1999). In India, it iscultivated on a large scale mainly in the states of Bihar (14,000ha) andUttar Pradesh (10,000ha) and to a lesser extent in Jharkhand, WestBengal,Orissa, andGujrat (K. Singh 1989). In Bangladesh, pointed gourdis grown on 51,895ha with a total production of 60,665 tonnes (Sadatet al. 2008). Young fruits of pointed gourd are cooked, pickled, and usedin confections (Paris and Maynard 2008), and young leaves and shoot-tips are also consumed (Anon. 1998).

Several aspects of pointed gourd cultivation have been reviewedpreviously (K. Singh 1989; Anon. 1998; Pandit and Hazra 2008). Repro-ductive biology, genetics, and breedingmethods have been discussed by

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 205

Som et al. (1993), and Paris and Maynard (2008) have reviewed history,origin, uses, and botany. The object of this chapter is to review botany,horticulture, and medicinal value with special emphasis to India.

A. Nutritional and Medicinal Values of Fruits

1. Nutritional Value. Pointed gourd has higher nutrient content thanother cucurbits (Pandit and Hazra 2008). Its fruits are rich in vitaminA (153mg/100 g), andprotein levels are 10 times higher than that of bottlegourd and 4 times that of snake gourd, ridge gourd, and ash gourd(Table 5.1). According to Choudhury (1996), 100 g (fresh weight) ofedible fruits contains P (40mg), Ca (30mg), Mg (9mg), Na (2.6mg),K (83mg), Cu (1.1mg), S (17mg), and Cl (4mg) and also provides 20 kcalenergy (Seshadri 1990). Every 100 g of fresh leaves contains 5.4mg

Table 5.1. Comparative differences in fruit composition of pointed gourd, snake

gourd, ivy gourd, bitter gourd, and bottle gourd.

Composition/

100g

edible portion

Pointed

gourd

(T. dioica)

Snake

gourd

(T. anguina)

Ivy

gourd

(C. grandis)

Bitter

gourd

(M. charantia)

Bottle

gourd

(L. ciceraria)

Moisture (%) 92 94.6 93.5 92.4 96.1

Protein (g) 2.0 0.5 1.2 1.6 0.2

Fat (g) 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.2 1.0

Minerals (g) 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.5

Fiber (g) 3.0 0.8 1.6 0.8 0.6

Carbohydrates (g) 4.2 3.3 3.4 4.2 2.5

Energy (kcal) 20 18 17 25 12

Calcium (mg) 30 50 18 20 120

Magnesium (mg) 9 53 - 17 5

Phosphorus (mg) 40 20 26 70 10

Iron (mg) 1.7 1.1 0.5 1.3 0.7

Sodium (mg) 2.6 25.4 - 17.8 1.8

Potassium (mg) 83 34 - 152 87

Copper (mg) 1.1 0.11 - 0.18 0.3

Sulfur (mg) 17 35 - 15 10

Chlorine (mg) 4 21 - 8 -

Vitamin A (IU) 255 160 33 210 60

Thymine (mg) 0.05 0.04 - 0.07 0.03

Riboflavin (mg) 0.06 0.06 0.01 0.09 0.01

Nicotinic acid (mg) 0.5 0.3 - 0.5 0.2

Vitamin C (mg) 29 5 5 88 6

Oxalic acid (mg) 7 34 - - -

Source: Purseglove 1968; Gopalan et al., 1989.

206 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

proteins, 4.2mg fiber, 531mg Ca, and 73mg P (Gopalan et al. 1989) andalso provides 55 kcal energy (Seshadri 1990). In addition, seed extractpossesses hemagglutination activity that may have some diagnosticapplications (Sathe et al. 1967).Q4

2. Medicinal Values. Since ancient times, human civilizationsworldwide have employed cucurbits to treat various ailments. Thejuice and extract of M. charantia (bitter gourd) and the leavesand roots of Coccinia grandis (Syn. C. indica) have been highlyregarded for their blood sugar–lowering attributes (Chandrasekaret al. 1989; Dhanbal et al. 2004). However, the general belief thatthe bitter substance (cucurbitacins) from Cucurbitaceae is a potentblood sugar–lowering agent has not been substantiated (Chandrasekaret al. 1989). In the traditional Ayurvedic system of medicine, T. dioicafruits have been described to possess antihelminthic, antipyretic,diuretic, appetizing, digestive, expectorant, and antirheumatic effects(Sharma and Pant 1988a; Seshadri 1990). Leaves and tuberous rootsof pointed gourd are also used in Ayruvedic medicine (Chandrasekaret al. 1989).

Aqueous extracts of T. dioica leaves were reported to have a hypo-glycemic effect in healthy rats and an antidiabetic effect in a strepto-zoicin-induced diabetic rat model (Rai et al. 2008a). Seeds of T. dioicahave been reported to possess antibacterial as well as antifungal activ-ities and are used in acid-dyspeptic disease treatment (Harit andRathee 1996). Pointed gourd roots have a strong purgative action, whilethe unripe fruits and tender shoots (typically consumed in curries) actas a laxative (Rahman et al. 2008).

The claims thatT. dioica fruits lower total serumcholesterol andbloodsugar have been supported by results from experiments with rats (Chan-drasekar et al. 1988, 1989; Rai et al. 2008b) and rabbits (Sharma andPant 1988a,b,c). Similar results were obtained in case of mild-diabetichuman subjects (Sharma et al. 1990). Banu et al. (2007) reported a similartrend with oral administration of aqueous fruit extract (50ml/kg bodyweight) to normal anddiabetic rats.Additional clinical human trialswillbe valuable to confirm these properties.

A patent was filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May29, 2002, including T. dioica as a possible source of a reverse tran-scriptase inhibitor that may impart valuable antiretroviral properties(Anon. 2002). Recently, Ghaisas et al. (2008) reported the hepato-protective properties of aqueous and ethanolic plant extracts ofT. dioica in rats, which was attributed to antioxidants similar to thosereported for carotene, saponins, tannins, and vitamin C.

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 207

B. Bioactive Compounds

Baitha and Pandey (2003) compared phenolic compounds from leavesof T. dioica, L. ciceraria, L. cylindrical, and L. acutangulata andconcluded that T. dioica is distantly related to the other three species.Mature plants and seeds of T. dioica contain abundant amounts ofcommon triterpenes, such as a- and b-amyrins, and cycloartenol(Akihisha et al. 1988). Moreover, the triterpene isomultiflorenolwas reported to be a seed taxonomic marker of Cucurbitaceae sinceonly few other higher plants are reported to contain this compound(Akihisha et al. 1988).

Lectins are proteins that have diverse bioactive propoerties in animalsand plants (Lis and Sharon 1986). Until now, lectins from legume seedshave been the most widely studied, but in recent years other plantfamilies, especially Cucurbitaceae, have become a good source of plantlectins (Sultan et al. 2004;Dharkar et al. 2006;Kavitha andSwamy2009).A galactose-specific lectin from seed extracts of T. dioica was isolatedusing affinity chromatography on cross-linked guar gum (galactoman-nan) (Sultan et al. 2004). The purified T. dioica seed lectin (TDSL) is aglycoprotein and a heterodimer of 55 kDa, having subunits of 24 and37 kDa; its tyrosine residues were considered important for its sugar-binding activity. A highly thermostable lectin from T. dioica, whichremained active up to 90oC and over a wide pH range (6–12), has beenisolated; its structure and stability indicated that it was similar to type IIribosome-inactivating proteins (Dharkar et al. 2006; Kavitha andSwamy 2009).

II. BOTANY

A. Origin and Distribution

Trichosanthes is a large genus of Indo-Malayan distribution, with about44 species, of which 22 are found in India (Chakravarty 1982). DeCandolle (1882) concluded that the species of Trichosanthes, especiallyT. dioica, originated in the OldWorld, most probably in India. The namepetola or patala, which signifies snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumer-ina) in Malay Peninsula and Philippine islands, is of Sanskrit origin(patola), indicating that the genus Trichosanthes may be indigenous toIndia (Seshadri and Parthasarathy 2002). Choudhury (1996) concludedthat the Assam-Bengal region of India was the primary center of originbecause this region, including Bangladesh, exhibits a rich species

208 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

diversity of this crop. However, wild forms of T. dioica are foundthroughout northern India.

B. Taxonomy

In 1754, Linnaeus divided the cucurbits known at the time into sevengenera under one order Monoecia, even though he was well aware thatsome of the members of Cucurbitaceae were not monoecious. In 1838,Schrader attempted a reclassification of the genera (three tribes) basedonvariation in the number and degree of stamen union, placentae number,seed number and position, and fruit type. Subsequently, there wereadditional taxonomic refinements by Endlicher in 1839, Arnott in 1842,and Roemer in 1846.

Jeffrey (1980) divided Cucurbitaceae into two subfamilies, Zanonio-deae and Cucurbitoideae, the latter containing eight tribes includingTrichosanthae, in which genus Trichosanthes was placed. Later,Chakravarty (1982) classified the Cucurbitaceae as having three tribes,placing genusTrichosanthes in the tribeCucumerineae. Therehave beena lot of rearrangements of the taxa in subgenera and sections withinTrichosanthes (Pruespan and Van Der Ham 2005). Yueh and Cheng(1980) subdivided genus Trichosanthes on the basis of the male bract,fruit pulp, and seed characters into subgenera Cucumeroides (with twosections: Cucumeroides and Tetragonosperma) and Trichosanthes(into five sections: Foliobracteola, Involucraria, Pedatae,Trichosanthes,and Truncata). In contrast, Jeffrey (1980) listed five sections of genusTrichosanthes (Cucumeroides, Foliobracteola, Involucraria, Tricho-santhes, Truncata), without mentioning subgenera.

Classification of Trichosanthes at the species level was originallycarried out by Kundu (1942) and later revised by Chakravarty (1982).Seed coat anatomy is diverse indifferent species ofTrichosanthes (Singhand Dhatan 1976). Although protein patterns are similar in Tricho-santhes, a few high-molecular-weight proteins are detected only in T.dioica. Tiwari et al. (1990), using paired affinity and group affinity valuesof 17 isozymes in 13 cucurbit species, reported 71% similarity betweenT. dioica and T. anguina, but these similarities were not substantiatedwith DNA-based studies (Sikdar et al. 2010).

Among the different species of Trichosanthes, T. bracteata is the mostcommon species in India, whereas T. dioica is the most commoncultivated species followed by T. cucumerina, and T. anguina(Anon. 1998). The salient morphological features of these two speciesare summarized in Table 5.2. A natural triploid of T. dioica has also

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 209

Table

5.2.

Morphologicaldifferencesbetw

eenthetw

ocultivatedsp

eciesofTrichosanthes.

Q15

Feature

T.dioica

T.anguina

Commonname

Pointedgourd

Snakegourd

Vernacular

name

Putulika(Sanskrit),Parval(H

indi),Potol(Bangla),

Patal(O

riya),KommuPotla(Telugu),Pudalai

(Tamil),Patolum

(Malyalam)Patola,Kaadu

(Kannada)

Chichinda(SanskritandHindi),Chichinga(Bangla),

Chhachindara

(Oriya),Lingapotla,Potlakaaya

(Telugu),Pudalkaaya(Tamil),Patavalanga

(Malayalam),Padavalakaayi(K

annada)

Plant

Perennial,slenderclimber,dioecious,

2–5m

height,

scarcely

todensely

pubescent,tendrils

2–3-fidor

unbranched,temperatures>25� C

,frost

sensitive,

prefers

sandyto

loamysoils

Perennial,climbing,monoecious,

grow

best

with

short

daylengthsandtemperatures>25� C

,frost

sensitive,prefers

sandyto

loamysoils

Stem

Angularorround,internode15–20cm,tendrils

robust;10–12cm

long

Stem

slender,green,coarse,climbingortrailing,four-

angled,somewhathairy

Leaf

Sim

ple,cordate,entire

ordenticulate,palm

ately

(3–5)lobed,cordate

atbase,acute

oracuminate

at

apex,margin

entire

Alternate,palm

ately

veined,ovate,sh

allowly

3–5

lobed.S

pirallycoiledtendrilsappearatthepetiole

base

Flower

Recim

ose,solitary,bractiate,calyxtubeoblong-

cylindrical

Solitary

flowers,monoeciouswithfringed,long-

hairedwhitepetals,withhairycalyx,corollais

tubular,stamensthree,withinferiorsingle-celled

ovary,andlonghairystigma;flowering

August–September,seedsripenfrom

September–October

Maleflower:stamens3,d

eeply

insertedoncalyxtube,

filaments

short,anthersyngenesiuos,

rarely

free,

staminodesabsent

Female

flower:style

slender,stigma3,pistillodes3,

Ovary

oblong,ovoid,fusiform

,globose,ovules

many,

horzontal,semipendulous

210

Flowercolor

Creamywhite

White

Fruit

Globose,oblong,sm

allto

medium

insize(5-15cm

in

length)withsm

ooth

orroughskin,pepo,edible

portionis

mostly

pericarp

withlittle

mesocarp

Very

long(30–150cm),whichresemble

snakes,

slender,curved,dehiscentberries

Fruitcolor

Greento

lightgreen,withorwithoutwhitestripes

whenim

mature,andyellow

atmaturity

Greento

lightgreenwithorwithoutwhitestripes

whenim

mature,anddark

redatmaturity

Fruitdim

ension

2–3�5–15cm

30–50�5cm

Fruittexture

Smooth

orroughskin

Smooth

skin,mucilaginousflesh

Seed

Seedsellipsoid,creamywhite,10–20perfruit,

packedin

pulp,initiallywhiteturninglightblack

atmaturity

Half-ellipsoid,browncolored,somewhat

compressed,undulate,hard,rugose,�1

cm

long,

grayishbrown,sculptured,margin

undulate

and

embeddedin

softpulp

Root

Taproot,tuberous,

yellowish

Taproot,tuberous,

whitish

Cultivation

Throughvine/rootcuttings,

onflatbed,in

October/

November

Sow

seedsonflatbeds,

inMarch

Uses

Cookedvegetable,consideredto

possess

bloodsu

gar

andserum

triglyceridesloweringactivity

Cookedvegetable,fruitis

consideredanthelm

intic,

emetic,andpurgative

211

been reported (Dutt and Saran 1998), but so far it has not been utilizedin breeding programs.

C. Plant Morphology

T. dioica is distinct from other cucurbits due to its well-establisheddioecism and perennial nature.

1. Plant. Pointed gourd has tuberous roots and a long taproot system.Plants grow as a vine (Figs. 5.1 and 5.2a), which can extend up to 5–6m.The stem is generally 0.5–1.0 cm thickwith simple tendrils, and the darkgreen leaves are simple andcordate (Fig. 5.1). Typically, eachnodeon thestaminate plant bears a leaf on a longpedicel, a simple bifidor sometimesunbranched tendril, and a glandular bract; it may also have one orsometimes two solitary staminate flowers. In pistillate plants, flowersare present in leaf axils.

2. Flowers. Inflorescence is recimose; flowers are sessile, solitary,bracteate with oblong-cylindrical calyx tube (Figs. 5.1 and 5.2b,c)

Fig. 5.1. Pointed gourd plant as depicted in Charaka Samhita. 1. General view; 2. An

unopened female flower; 3. A coiled tendril; 4. A seed cut open; 5. A fully opened female

flower; 6. A fruit; 7. A simple cordate leaf; 8. A fully opened male flower (Kirtikar and

Basu 1918. www.payer.de/ayurveda/pflanzen/trichosanthes_dioica.htm

212 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

(Pandit and Hazra 2008). Staminate flowers contain three stamens withshort filaments deeply inserted on calyx tube; anthers are syngenesious,rarely free, without any staminodes (Pathak and Singh 1950). Pollengrains are round with three weak pores (3-zoniporate), oblate spheroi-dal (diameter 52–56mm), and pores are circular (diameter 4.2mm),provided with an annulus (Awasthi 1961). Pistillate flowers haveslender styles ending in 3 papillate stigmas, where the gynoecium has5 carpels (Figs. 5.1 and 5.2) (Pandit and Hazra 2008). The ovary isoblong, ovoid, fusiform, globose with many horizontal, semipendulousovules. Occasional hermaphrodite flowers with rudimentary or evenwell-developed anthers have been reported by some workers on oth-erwise pistillate plants (Baillon 1922; Singh 1950; Singh et al. 1992),mostly during the months of April to August (Singh et al. 1992). Sprayapplication of 1,000mg L�1 silver nitrate (AgNO3) on pistillate flowers

Fig. 5.2. T. dioica. (a) Vigorously growing plant; (b) female flower; and (c) male flower.

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 213

induces hermaphroditic flowers of abnormal size and shape that typ-ically do not shed pollen (Hoque et al. 2002).

3. Fruits. The fruit (pepo) of T. dioica are globose, oblong, and smooth,where the edible portion is mainly the pericarp with a little mesocarp(Pandit and Hazra 2008). Considerable variation exists in fruit shape,size and striation patterns, such that fruits can be grouped mainly intofour categories (Figs. 5.1 and 5.3a–d): (1) 10–13 cm long, dark greenwithwhite stripes; (2) 10–16 cm long, thick, dark green with very pale-greenstripes; (3) small, 5–8 cm long, roundish, dark green with white stripes;and (4) small (5–8 cm long), tapering at the ends, green and striped(K. Singh 1989; Singh and Whitehead 1999). These types are mostlygrown in Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal states of India.In contrast, in Madhya Pradesh, a fifth type is popular consisting ofcultivars having pale-white oval fruits without any markings (Fig. 5.3e)(More and Shinde 2003).

D. Floral Biology

As a dioecious species, T. dioica is strictly cross-pollinated, therebyavoiding the deleterious effects of inbreeding, and it maintains a highpopulation heterozygosity (Singh 2005). In India, flowering in T. dioicastarts in February and continues until November. The transmission fromvegetative phase to reproductive phase is accompanied by a significantincrease in the GA3Q5 level. The increase in staminate plants is higher thanthat of pistillate plants (Sarkar and Datta 1990). Generally, two flowerbuds arise from the same leaf axil in staminate plants where one orsometimes both develop further (Fig. 5.2b,c). In pistillate plants, twoflower buds arise in the leaf axil, and typically the first floral buddevelops (Pathak and Singh 1950; Peter et al. 1998).Q6 Singh 1950 reportedthat temperature was the main factor affecting the time of anthesis anddehiscence of anthers, while relative humidity had little effect. Pollengrains are sticky and are not suitable for wind pollination. The pollenremain viable for up to 46–49 hours, while the stigma becomes receptive7 hours before anthesis and remains so up to 51 hours after anthesis.Zaman (2006) investigated 14 cucurbit species and reported the lowestpollen viability (87%) and germination (78%) in T. dioica. Pollen tubedevelopment in cucurbitaceous plants has been investigated by Ste-phenson et al. (2003).

Staminateflowershave longerfloral tubes and take longer (16–19days)to reach anthesis than pistillate flowers (10–14 days) (Singh et al. 1989).

214 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

Anthesis commences between 7:00 and 19:00 and continues up to 21:00.Pollen viability is quite high (ca. 98%) at anthesis but gradually declinesto zero 54h after anthesis. In contrast, the stigma remains receptive up to24 hours after anthesis. Under natural open pollination, fruit set is low,mainly due to poor pollination (Pathak and Singh 1950), but fruit set canbe increased by hand pollination.

Fig. 5.3. Variability observed in the fruits ofT.dioica. (a–e) Five representative fruit types;(f) fruits from a parthenocarpic line; (g) fruits from a cluster-bearing line of T. dioica.

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 215

E. Cytology

The chromosome number of T. diocia is 2n¼2x¼22 with 11 bivalents inpollen mother cells (Banerjee and Das 1937; Sarkar and Dutta 1988;Sarkar et al. 1987; Sinha et al. 2003). Plants of T. dioica typically havemore than 3 chromosomes with secondary constrictions (Sarkar andDatta 1988; Sarkar et al. 1987;). Giemsa C-banding pattern in threecultivars of T. dioica revealed distinct telomeric bands in the somaticchromosomes, which could be used to distinguish cultivars (Sarkar andDutta 1987). An analysis of meiotic behavior of chromosomes inT. dioica, T. cucumerina, T. anguina, and T. palmata indicated a markedsimilarity in the general chromosome morphology (Sarkar et al. 1987).

Most workers (Chattopadhyay and Sharma 1988; Sinha et al. 2007)maintain that staminate and pistillate individuals of T. dioica do notdiffer in chromosome morphology, number of secondary constrictions,and total chromosome length, but some workers reported one hetero-morphic chromosome pair in staminate plants (Sarkar and Datta 1988;Sarkar et al. 1987). Further, mitotic metaphase chromosomes of stami-nate plants show a higher DNA condensation than those of pistillateplants, possibly indicating the inactivation of certain chromosome seg-ments in staminate plants (Sinha et al. 2007). Pistillate plants ofT. dioicashow diffuse C-banding in a single pair of chromosomes while thestaminate plants do not (Sarkar and Dutta 1987). During metaphase Iin pollen mother cells, one chromosome pair remains separate from theremaining bivalents on a different plane (Patel 1952; Sarkar and Dutta1988). At anaphase I, this pair showed an earlier separation than the restof the chromosome pairs in cultivatedT. dioica but separated later in thewild form (Sarkar and Dutta 1988). These observations suggest that atpresent there is little evidence that sex difference in T. dioica arecorrelated with difference in chromosome morphology (Chattopadhyayand Sharma 1991; Sinha et al. 2007).

F. Genetics

A wide range of quantitatively and qualitatively inherited phenotypicvariation in plant vigor, morphology, reproductive traits, and fruit sizeand shape is present in pointed gourd accessions from India (Singh andPrasad 1989; Prasad and Singh 1990b; Hazra et al. 1998; Dora et al. 2001;Ram 2001). The exploitation of this variation should form the basis forhybridization programs and subsequent selection of elite clones.

Accessions collected from different parts of northern India showsignificant differences for number of primary branches, fruit length,

216 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

individual fruit weight, fruit volume, pulp weight, and yield per plant(Chandra et al. 1995, Kabir et al. 2009). High heritability (52.0–91.0) andgenetic advance (8.18–9.21) have been reported for fruit length, fruitvolume, and fruit yield per plant (Singh and Prasad 1989). Positiveheterosis has been reported for fruit weight, drymatter content, and fruityield per plant/harvest (Singh et al. 2000; Sadat et al. 2008). Yield perplant shows significant positive correlation (0.287–0.983) with fruitweight, fruit diameter, fruit volume, vine length, fruit length, andnumber of primary branches (Sarkar et al. 1999), while node at whichfirst pistillate flower appears, skin thickness, and internodal lengthexhibit negative correlation with yield (Dora et al. 2002). Nonhierarchi-cal cluster analysis of leaf and stem morphology and yield-contributingtraits revealed that the accessions having thin and slender stem alongwith bushy habit possess early fruiting (Ram 2001). Cultivars such as‘Swarna Rekha’ and ‘Swarna Alaukik’ show yield stability over differentenvironments and thus are suitable for commercial cultivation (Prasadand Singh 1990a; Prasad et al. 1999).

Low seed germination (<3%) in T. dioica is a bottleneck for geneticstudies (Kumar 2008). Kumar and associates (Kumar 2008; Kumar et al.2008a) obtained only 9.3% germination with embryo culture. Thevariation in sexual progeny for plant vigor, onset of flowering, fruit sizeand shape, and stem and leaf morphological traits indicate a high levelsof heterozygosity and heterogeneity in clones. There is also considerablevariation for stem pubescence (pubescent dominant over smooth), stemshape (angular dominant over round), tendril coiling (coiled dominantover straight), tendril branching (branched dominant over unbranched),and leaf pubescence (smooth dominant over pubescent). A single genehas been proposed to control stem pubescence (sst), stem shape (rst),tendril coiling (stl), tendril branching (utl), and leaf pubescence (plf)(Kumar et al. 2008a). There is a marked bias in favor of pistillate overstaminate plants in progeny, possibly due to lethal or sublethal gene(s)linked to the pistillate determining locus (Kumar et al. 2008a).

G. Parthenocarpy

Parthenocarpic fruit set was induced in high frequency (80%) inT. dioica by spraying a drop application of 200–300mg L�1 NAAQ7 toflowers once during the evening before anthesis (Dubey and Nair 1972)or by applications of 50mg L�1 NAA about 1 h prior to anthesis (Ghosh1963). Auxin application involves additional cost and human effort(Rotino et al. 1997) and may also cause severe morphological malfor-mation in vegetative organs, inhibition of flowering, and reduction of

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 217

fruit quality (Hoque et al. 2002; Carmi et al. 2003).Mixed pollen from L.leucantha andM. charantia also increase parthenocarpy (Singh 1978).

III. HORTICULTURE

A. Climate and Soil

Pointed gourd is similar to other cucurbitaceousvegetables in its culturalrequirements, except for space requirement per plant,whichdepends onthe type and extent of vine growth (Seshadri 1990). It is a day-neutral,perennial plant that thrives well in moderately warm to hot humidclimates (Peter et al 1998). Frost and severe cold are detrimental to itsgrowth (Anon. 2005). The optimum temperature for plant growth is30�–35�C. The crop can withstand water stress but not waterlogging. Itthrives well in high-rainfall areas of northeastern India. The crop re-mains dormant during winters and sprouts vigorously with the onset ofspring. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and the northeastern states of India,which are usually flooded by overflowing rivers in the rainy season,pointed gourd is cultivated as a summer crop. Pointed gourd cultivationis quite remunerative and forms a valuable component of intensivecultivation systems. Pointed gourd is productive during the summer inGeorgia, United States, and the yields were comparable to those fromIndia and Bangladesh (Singh and Whitehead 1999).

Pointed gourd, like other cucurbits, shows good growth in well-drained sandy loam soil with pH of 6.0–6.5 but performs poorly inheavy soils. It thrives well in uplands having alluvial light soils with theaddition of organic matter. Basal application of well-rotten farmyardmanure (20–25 t/ha) and top-dressing of 60–80 kg nitrogen, 40 kg phos-phorus (P2O5), and 40–50kg potassiumQ8 per hectare, depending on thesoil type typically, will provide optimal yields (Peter et al. 1998).Nitrogen application has a positive effect on increasing fruit size andweight depending on genotype; the maximum early yield was obtainedwith the application of 60 to 90 kg/ha of nitrogen and P2O5 (Das et al.1987; Kumar et al. 1990). Generally, half the quantity of nitrogen and fulldose of phosphorus is applied at the time of planting,with the remaininghalf of nitrogen applied 60 days after planting.

B. Spacing

In flat-bed cultivation, cuttings are usually spaced 1.0�2.0m, whilein trellis systems, spacing is kept at 1.0�1.5m (Anon. 2005). In a

218 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

well-manured flat-bed field, 1.8�1.8m spacing gave luxuriant growthand good yield (Anon. 1998). Yadav et al. (1989) reported significantyield differences between 1.5�1.5m and 3.0�1.5m spacing with threegenotypes; however, the two different spacings did not affect fruit lengthand diameter and fruit weight.

C. Propagation

1. Seed Propagation. Propagation through seed is undesirable due topoor germination and late flowering of sexual progeny (Singh andWhitehead 1999; Seshadri and Parthasarathy 2002). Seed-based popula-tions produce more than 50% of nonfruiting staminate plants, whereonly 10% staminate plants are required for good pollination and fruit set(Maurya et al. 1985). Scarification using HCl or H2SO4 did not increasegermination, and only 9.8% germination was obtained by culturingimmature embryos (Kumar et al. 2008a).

2. VegetativePropagation. Traditionally,T.dioica ismultipliedthroughstem (K. Singh 1989) or root cuttings (Som et al. 1993; Choudhury 1996).Ideally, the cuttings are taken from mature plants to ensure stable sexexpression, fruit type, yield, and quality. Stem cuttings are planteddirectly or prerooted (Seshadri andParthasarathy 2002). In theprerootedsystem, cuttings of about 1.0m long from 1-year-old plants are taken inOctober (when plants complete fruiting), coiled in the shape of a ring,and placed in nursery planting pits (soil is dug and filled with equalproportion of farmyardmanure and soil) or in polybags filledwith soil topromote rooting (Pandit et al. 2001). Rooted cuttings are transplantedinto the open field during February and March. Alternatively, 20-cmcuttings are taken from amature vine, planted in the nursery inOctober–November, and rooted cuttings are transplanted into the field inFebruary–March. In the direct planting system, fresh cuttings of 1.0mareplaceddirectly in 20–30-cm-deep furrowsfilledwith organicmanureand covered with moist soil, keeping 15 cm at both the ends exposed(Pandit and Hazra 2008).

Cuttings from the basal portion of vines have shown 90% successwhile terminal cuttings show high mortality (Dubey and Pandey 1973).Planting of rooted vine cuttings is preferable where there is risk of frostdamage during the winter. October planting allows plants to reachphysiological vine maturity prior to fruit initiation, which is attained100–110days after planting, coincidentwith the rise in temperature (i.e.,February onward). Such plants flower early and give comparativelyhigher yields (Pandit 1994). Between 6,000–7,000 cuttings/ha (each

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 219

60–90 cm long, having 7–10 nodes) are required in trellis systems(K. Singh 1989). Nearly 5,000 cuttings are required to raise 1 ha cropon flat beds (Anon. 2005), while 4,000 cuttings are sufficient for plantingin riverbeds (Anon. 1998). Application of 100mg L�1 3-butyric acid(IBA) increases rooting of vine cuttings with 1 to 3 nodes (Pandey andRam 2000).

Tuberous roots of pointed gourd are dug in early spring, subdivided(�15 cm), and replanted for propagation (More and Shinde 2003). Thispropagation method is easy and fast, and sprouting is generally high,but obtaining sufficient propagules is a limitation (Anon. 2005). Smal-ler root ‘‘suckers’’ at the nodes of vines can beused; they are uprooted inOctober and planted on raised beds. Stem layering is feasible but is notin general use.

3. Tissue Culture. Plantlet regeneration in T. dioica has been achievedfrom shoot-tips, nodal explants (Table 5.3), and immature and maturecotyledons (Hoque et al. 1998) and MS media (Murashige andSkoog 1962) was widely used for micropropagation. Explants fromfield-grown plants show a high frequency of fungal contamination(46.6%–100%, depending on season of explant collection), which canbe minimized by a suitable antibiotic and fungicide treatment (Kumar2008). Shoot regeneration media includes benzyl adenine (BA) eitheralone or in combination with a low concentration of an auxin, such asNAA or IBA (Yadava and Dhir 1995; Hoque et al. 1998; Debnath et al.2000; Kumar 2008). However,Mythili andThomas (1999) reported that acombination of IAA (1.0 mM) and IBA (0.2mM) was the most suitablefor multiple shoot development, while BA in combination with IAA orGA3was unsuitable in genotypes ‘Swarna Rekha’ and ‘Swarna Alaukik’.

Thiadiazuron-supplemented media can enhance the number of shootbuds per explant but suppresses the frequency of responding explants(Yadava and Dhir 1995; Kumar 2008). Use of IAA in the mediumproduces shoots having close-set nodes and poor rooting, while IBAproduced shoots with long internodes and profuse rooting. In bothcases, plantlets were unsuitable for transfer (Mythili and Thomas 1999).Shoots rooted on amediumcontaining 2.7–5.4mMNAA(Yadav andDhir1995; Hoque et al. 1998; Debnath et al. 2000; Malek et al. 2007) or0.49–2.45 mM IBA (Abdul-Awal et al. 2005; Kumar 2008) gave highrates for field survival (70%–90%; Hoque et al. 1998; Mythili andThomas 1999; Kumar 2008).

Up to 92% regeneration was obtained from cotyledons from physio-logically immature and mature seeds cultured on MS medium contain-ing 4.44mM BA (Hoque et al. 1998). The established shoots were rooted

220 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

Table

5.3.

MicropropagationofTrichosanthesdioicausingsh

oot-tip,node,andcotyledonexplants

withMSmedium.

Q16

Explant

Growth

regulator(G

R)(mM)z

No.sh

oots/

explant

GRforroot

induction(mM)

Field

survival(%

)Reference

Shoot-tip

4.44BA

7.6

0.49IBA

91

Kumar2008

Shoot-tip(10mm)

4.44BAþ100mg/L

PVP�

y5.36NAA

yYadavaandDhir

1995

Shoot-tip(15–20mm)

4.902iP

3.25

2.45IBA

yAbdul-Awaletal.2005

Shoottip

þnode

4.44BAþ

1.62NAA

4.0

2.7

NAA

yMaleketal.2007

8.88BAþ

0.54NAA

24

1/ 2

MSþ

2.7

NAA

yDebnath

etal.2000

0.2

BA

þ1.0

IAAþ

6.6

Exvitro

80

MythiliandThomas1999

Cotyledon

4.44BA

y5.36NAA

70–90

Hoqueetal.1998

zBA¼b

enzyladenine;PVP¼p

olyvinylpyrrolidone;2iP¼2

-isopentenyladenine.

yData

notreported.

221

on themedium containing 5.36mMNAA, with 70%–90%field survival.However, shoot regeneration from immature and mature cotyledonscannot be used for multiplication of elite materials, since seed-basedpopulations show segregation.

In the case of micropropagation using shoot-tip and nodal segments,about 8 shoots can be obtained from a single explant in 4 weeks ascompared to only 8–10 cuttings produced from each plant in one year bythe conventional method of vegetative propagation. Therefore, micro-propagation has the potential for producing large numbers of qualitypropagules of elite clones in a short period. In India, theAgroDivision ofCadila Pharmaceuticals Limited is producing (0.3 million plants perannum) of ‘Anawal’ pointed gourd through tissue culture at at a price ofRs.12 each in Gujrat state (Anon. 2010). The sex-associated randomamplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers are utilized as a qualitycontrol to check the sex and uniformity of the propagules.

D. Cultivars

A large number of cultivars and horticultural forms of pointed gourdhaving restricted local distribution have been developed in differentgrowing areas of India and Bangladesh. The fruits of pointed gourdcultivars are available in themarket under different local nameswithoutany uniformity and standardization in nomenclature (Hossain andRazzaque 1999). Although there is substantial intraspecific variation inpointed gourd vegetative traits, especially fruit characters, it is difficultto distinguish genotypes based on their external morphology alone(Hossain and Razzaque 1999). In India, four high-yielding clones(‘Rajendra Parwal-1’, ‘Rajendra Parwal-2’, ‘Swarna Rekha’, and ‘SwarnaAlaukik’) have been developed through hybridization and/or selectionhave been released in India by the Central Variety Release Committee(CVRC) for cultivation in different agro-ecological zones (Table 5.4;Singh et al. 2009). In Bangladesh also, two high-yielding clones (BARIPatal-1 andBARIPatal-2) havebeen released for cultivation (Kamaruzza-man 2009). In addition, a large number of local selections known bynames of localities such as ‘Faizabad Parwal-1, ‘Hilli’, ‘Chhota Hilli’,‘Dandali’, ‘Kalyani’, ‘Bihar Sharif’, and ‘Santokhiya’, are also verypopular among the farmers (Table 5.4; Singh et al. 2009).

E. Cultural Practices

Pointed gourd typically is grown on flat beds (vines grown on soilsurface) aswell as trained on a trellis system,where the beds are covered

222 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

Table

5.4.

Releasedcultivars

andlocalselectionsofpointedgourd

from

India

andBangladesh

.Q17

Cultivar

Source

(notificationno.)

Salient

characters

Yield

potential(t/ha)

Rajendra

Parw

al-1

RAU

z

(636(E)02.09.1994)

Long,greenfruitwithwhitestripes,

taperingatboth

ends;

�40g,su

itable

forlong-distancetransp

ort;

tolerantto

fruitfly;su

itable

forcultivationin

both

riverbedanduplandareas

18–19

Rajendra

Parw

al-2

RAU

(636(E)

02.09.1994)

Drum-shaped,whitishgreenfruitwithvery

lightstripes

andsoftmesocarp;�3

0g;tolerantto

vineandfruitrot

aswellasfruitfly;su

itable

forcultivationin

both

riverbedanduplandareas

16–18

SwarnaRekha

HARPy(2035(E)

28.11.2006)

Fruitselongated(8–10cm

long),taperingatboth

ends,

striped,withsoftpulp,recommendedforcultivation

inJharkhand,Bihar,Orissa,West

Bengal,andeastern

UttarPradesh

statesofIndia

18–20

SwarnaAlaukik

HARP(2035(E)

28.11.2006)

Fruits5–8cm

long,lightgreenishwithbluntends,

suitable

forsw

eetpreparation;recommendedfor

cultivationin

Jharkhand,Bihar,Orissa,West

Bengal

andeastern

UttarPradesh

statesofIndia

23–25

CHESElite

Line

CHESx

Large-sized,dark

green-stripedattractivefruit.

25–30

CHESHybrid-1

CHES

First

pointedgourd

hybriddeveloped;firm

fruits,

firm

,

green,striped,each30–35g;highly

tolerantto

fruitfly

infestation

28–32

CHESHybrid-2

CHES

Dark-green,stripedfruits,

25–30g

35–40

FaizabadParw

al-1

(FP-1)

NDUATw

Attractive,round,greenfruits;

commerciallycultivated

inUttarPradesh

andadjoiningareasofBihar

15–17

FaizabadParw

al-3

(FP-3)

NDUAT

Spindle

shaped,greenfruitwithfew

stripes;

excellent

culinary

properties;su

itable

forcultivationin

eastern

aswellaswestern

regionsofUttarPradesh

12–15

(continued)

223

Table

5.4

(Continued)

Cultivar

Source

(notificationno.)

Salient

characters

Yield

potential(t/ha)

FaizabadParw

al-4

(FP-4):

NDUAT

Light-greenfruit,sp

indle

shapedwithtaperingends;

recommendedforbower/pole

system

ofcultivation

andforreclaim

edsodic

soils

x

Rajendra

Parw

al-1

RAU

Large,d

ark-greenfruitwithwhitestripes;highly

suitable

forriverbedcultivation.

�15

Rajendra

Parw

al-2

RAU

Large,dark-greenfruitwithcreamystripes;

suitable

for

riverbedcultivation,esp

eciallyin

UttarPradesh

and

Bihar

17

Hilli

-vLongfruit(9.6�3

.1cm),greenishwithwhitestripesand

taperingtoward

distalendwithdispersedneck

-x

Chhota

Hilli

-vMedium-longfruit(5.7�3

.4cm),ovalto

spindle

shaped,

swollenin

themiddle,greenishwithprominentwhite

stripes,

bluntendandbulgedatstalk

-x

Dandali

-vMedium-sizefruit(6.8�3

.9cm),eggsh

aped,lightgreen,

stockenddispersed,stripedslightlyandgrooved

toward

distalend

-x

BARIPatal-1

BARIu

Fruitssp

indlesh

aped,lightgreen,11cm

longwith10–11

whitestripes,

averagefruitweight25g,su

itable

for

cultivationthroughoutBangladesh

30

BARIPatal-2

BARI

Fruitssp

indle

shaped,dark

green,9–10cm

longwith

9–10lightgreenstripes,

averagefruitweight40g,

suitable

forcultivationthroughoutBangladesh

40

Source:Singhetal.2009;Kamruzzaman2009.

zRajendra

AgriculturalUniversity,

Pusa,India.

yHorticulture

andAgroforestry

ResearchProgram,Ranchi,India.

xCentralHorticulture

ExperimentStation,Ranchi,India.

wNarendra

DevUniversityofAgriculture

andTechnology,

Faizabad,India.

vInform

ationunavailable.

uBangladesh

Agriculture

ResearchInstitute,Gazipur,Bangladesh

.

224

with organicmulch. If the crop is grown on a flat bed, hoeing followed bymulching is necessary for healthy vine growth. Various intercroppingsequences (e.g., potato-pointed gourd, radish-pointed gourd, or pea-pointed gourd) are used in general practice by farmers (K. Singh 1989;Anwar et al. 2003). ItQ9 is also grown as intercrop with betel vine in someareas of West Bengal and Orissa states (Maity et al. 1995).

1. Training System. Vines trained on trellis systems (Fig 5.2a) facil-itates effective pollination and luxuriant plant growth leading to earlierflowering and higher yields than flat bed systems (Singh 1989; Yadevet al. 1989). Aerial support systems include bowers (horizontal nettedwire support�2.5m above ground level), arches, and single row verticaltrellis. In the single row vertical trellis, the trellis is generally 2m high,constructed from stakes 2m apart, where a system of vertical strings isspaced 30 cm apart between horizontal wires beginning 1m above thesoil surface. Vines are trained on the vertical trellis by tying with wires.In the bower type,wooden/iron stakes or concrete pillars are first erectedand they are covered horizontally by criss-cross wire netting. Bowersystem is reported to lead to earlier flowering and higher yield, thanflat bed cultivation (K. Singh 1989; Yadav et al. 1989), but number offruits per plant and fruit size were comparable between the two systems(Yadav et al. 1989).

Irrigation is needed generally at 20-days intervals during the winterseason and every 10 days during the summer season. Flower abortion(1–2 days after anthesis) and fruit yellowing (5–7 days after anthesis) iscommon during summer season, most likely due to the lack of pollina-tion.Drip irrigationat 100%panevaporation (PE) resulted in18%higherfruit yield as compared to 60% PE (Singandhupe et al. 2003). Pointedgourd produces maximum fruit yields during the first 3–4 years follow-ing establishment, after which yield potential gradually declines(Samalo and Parida 1983). During winter, plants undergo a dormantphase, and the growth of meristematic tissues is retarded to a greatextent. Pruning vines to 30 cm long before winter increases fruit yield(Anon. 2005).

2. Weed Control. Effective weed control is important during the initialperiod of plant growth. Most weeds can be removed manually ormechanically. Hoeing around the root zone, after irrigation, is necessaryto facilitate aeration and to conserve moisture. Weed management is aserious problem in flat-bed cultivation, especially during summer andrainy seasons, due to the trailing habit and long duration of the crop(Dwivedi et al. 1999). Intercropping during the dormant and early stages

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 225

andhand-weeding at later stages are themost commonmethods adoptedby farmers. Herbicides, such as Gramaxone (1.0% a.i.) or Fernoxone(0.8% a.i.) spray per hectare on postshoot emergence along with mulch-ing effectively controls weeds and ensures higher fruit yield (Chatto-padhyay et al. 1997). Mulch of polyethylene (Dwivedi et al. 1999) orpaddy straw (Goasai and Bera 1998) is highly effective in controllingweeds as well as enhancing yield. Rice straw mulch (15 t/ha) increasedin fruit yield nearly 80% (Anon. 2005) and is less expensive than plasticmulch.

F. Harvesting

Generally, vines start fruiting about 5 months after transplanting(Anon. 2005), typically in February and continuing through September.Seedlings, however, usually begin fruiting 143–316 days after trans-planting (Kumar et al. 2008a). Fruits are harvested about 15–18days afterpollination before physiological maturity; fully mature fruits are un-marketable. Harvesting is generally done at weekly intervals, and fruitscan be stored at ambient temperatures (28�–30�C) for about 3 days.During long-distance transportation, postharvest problems such as fruitshriveling, yellowing, and seed hardening are encountered (Koley et al.2009a). Chakrabarty et al. 2002 recommended dipping of pointed gourdfruits in 1% semperfresh (a sucrose polyester with short-chain fattyacids) for enhancing its shelf life. Treatment of pointed gourd fruits withcarnauba wax (edible coating material of lipid group obtained fromBrazilian palm) þ sodium hypochlorite (100mg/L) þ potassium meta-bisulphite (500mg/L) enhances storability to 5 days (Koley et al. 2009b);waxol (wax emulsion containing 12% solids) þ maleic hydrazide(1,000mg/L) increases storability to 8 days (K. Singh 1989). Pointedgourd fruits can be preserved for up to 60 days in brine (3%w/v) and canbe treated with gamma rays (Hasan et al. 1993).

Yield and quality generally depend on plant population and prevail-ing weather conditions during the fruiting period. In 3.0�0.75 cm spac-ing accommodating approximately 9,000 plants per hectare the yieldranges from 130 to 170 t/ha in different clones under lower GangeticplainsQ10 (Pandit 1994). Ratoon crops, if managed well, give a higher yieldcompared to that of the first year (Pandit and Hazra 2008).

G. Insect and Disease Management

Since the major part of the growth phase of pointed gourd productionoccurs during the rainy season in India, the crop suffers from fungal and

226 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

viral diseases (Jones et al. 2000), nematodedamage (Saha et al. 2004), andinsect pests (Anon. 1998).

1. Insect Pests. Pointed gourd is attacked by insect pests including fruitfly (Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett), white mealy bug (Ferrisianavirgata), and redpumpkin beetle (Raphidopalpa foveicollisLucas). Fruitfly is themost serious anddestructive insect pest, causing severe damageto the developing fruits. During the rainy season, when the humidity ishigh, the adult flies lay eggs below the skin of ovaries, which later hatchinto maggots that feed on the developing fruits and cause rotting. Directcontrol of maggots is unfeasible since they remain inside the developingfruits, but the adult flies can be controlled by using poison baits, such asmethyl euginol. Use of pheromone traps at 10 traps per hectare has beenfound effective for insect control. Alternatively, malathion (2ml) andjaggery (crude sugar, 10 g) mixed in water (1,000ml) can be sprayed atweekly intervals for fruit fly control.

The nymph and adult females of white mealy bug suck the sap fromlower surface of leaves, tender shoots, and fruits. Parathion and dimeth-oate emulsions (0.04%) are effective against F. virgata. The grubs andadults of two coccinalid beetles, Naphus regularis Sic. and Pulluscoccidivora Ayyar (Lady bird beetle), are predators of this pest(Anon. 1998). Red pumpkin beetle is also a serious pest puncturing theyoung fruits and leading to their decay. Spraying with parathion(0.025%) or Endrin (0.02%) or fumigation with ethylene dibromide iseffective in minimizing fruit fly damage (Anon. 1998).

2. Vine and Fruit Rot. Vine and fruit rot disease of pointed gourd is asoilborne complex disease associated with Phytophthora spp., includ-ing P. cinnamomi (Khatua et al. 1981) and P. malonis (Guharoy et al.2006), Pythium spp., including P. aphanidermatum (Chattopadhay andSengupta 1952), P. cucurbitacearum (Chaudhuri 1975), and Rhizoctoniasolani (Dutta et al. 2009). These diseases are regarded as limiting factorsin the cultivation of pointed gourd in the Gangetic plains of India,especially during the rainy season, when severe damage due to rottingof vines and fruits occurs. The etiology, epidemiology, andmanagementof vine and fruit rot have been described in detail by Saha et al. (2004).Generally, infection starts from the stylar end of fruits and causesextensive soft rotting with fine mycelial growth on fruit surface at laterstages (Chaudhuri 1975). Naskar et al. (2006) reported that three ther-apeutic sprays ofMetalaxyl 8% þ Mancozeb 64%wettable powder bothat 0.25% or Metalaxyl 68W.G. at 8–10-day intervals can be highlyeffective in controlling stem and fruit rot.

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 227

3. Root-knot Nematode. Root gall formation due toMeloidogyne incog-nita is becoming a serious problem in pointed gourd in certain regionsdepending on cultivar, soil type, and inoculum load. During severenematode attack, plants remain stunted and may even die. Some acces-sions—U-34/BP/DR/44, VRPG-72, VRPG-18, andVRPG-96—are tolerantto nematode challenge (Bhardwaj and Kumar 2008). Soil solarization iseffective in reducing the incidence of root-knot nematode, and theapplication of neem cake (250 kg/ha) is helpful in managementthe disease (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2006). Dipping vines in carbosulfan25 EC at 500ppm for 6h along with soil application of carbosulfan 3G at2.5 g around each plant 45 days after planting provides effective reduc-tion in the root-knot nematode gall index. The fungus Paecelomyceslilacinus is an effective biological control for M. incognita and causes88% reduction in gall incidence (Khan and Verma 2004).

H. Breeding

Development of improved cultivars of pointed gourd has been basedprimarily on selection fromdomesticated clones (Singh 1989; Singh andWhitehead 1999), but recently some hybrids have been obtained bycrossing domestic clones (Kumar 2008; Kumar et al. 2008a; Sadat et al.2008). The choice of cultivar generally depends on regional consumerpreferences for fruit shape, color, and striation pattern. The main breed-ing objectives are developing high-yielding selections having diseaseandpest resistance. In addition, search for a stable parthenocarpic line isalso an important breeding aspect.

1. Breeding Methods. As pointed gourd is highly cross-pollinated, itshows considerable heterozygosity (Kumar et al. 2008a), and selection ofindividual plants with desirable characteristics from local and popularclones may form the basis of a new cultivars. Several selections havebeen recommended for commercial cultivation, and at least two clonallypropagated F1 hybrid selections have been released for commercialcultivation (Table 5.4). Once a plant with vigor and desirable featuresis obtained, it is easilymaintained by vegetative propagation to become anew cultivar. The use of hybrid seed is not practical because of poorgermination.

2. Biotechnology. Sikdar et al. (2010) used isozyme, RAPD, and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to study the phylogenetic rela-tionship among 11 cucurbit species, including T. dioica. Speciesbelonging to the same genus cluster together. RAPD analysis showed

228 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

no difference between T. dioica and T. cucumerina, but in the dendro-grambased on ISSRmarkers,T. dioica andT. cucumerinawere separatedand placed in the same cluster close to each other (Sikdar et al. 2010).RAPD has been used to assess genetic diversity in pointed gourdaccessions from Bangladesh (Khan et al. 2009) and India (Goswamiet al. 2009), and these studies revealed a high degree of genetic diversityin different accessions.

A reliable method for determining the gender of pointed gourdbefore flowering would facilitate breeding programs. A RAPD marker(OPC07567) associated with gynocecy in T. dioica was identifiedthrough bulked segregant analysis (Singh et al. 2002). In anotherstudy, Kumar et al. (2008b) screened previously reported decamerprimers with the sexual progeny population obtained through embryoculture (Kumar et al. 2008a) and one parthenocarpic line of pointedgourd. Three RAPD markers—OPC051000 (male sex associated),OPC14400 (female sex associated), and OPN011030 (absent in parthe-nocarpic line)—were identified, which together can reliably identifythe staminate, pistillate, and parthenocarpic types of T. dioica(Table 5.5, Fig. 5.4). These RAPD markers have not been mappedprimarily because of lack of a suitable mapping population.

Table 5.5. DNA markers associated with sex expression in T. dioica.

Marker

Primer

Sequence Association

Population/

technique Reference

RAPDOPC 07350 GATGACCGCC Female 14 female plants

and 4 male

plants, BSA

based

Singh et al.

2002

OPC051000 GATGACCGCC Male 52 sexual

progeny,

BSA based

Kumar et al.

2008b

OPC14400 TGCGTGCTTG Female 52 sexual

progeny,

BSA based

Kumar et al.

2008b

OPN011030 CTCACGTTGG Absent

parthenocarpic

52 sexual

progeny,

BSA based

Kumar et al.

2008b

AFLPEco-AC/

Mse-AT400

Eco-AC/Mse-AT Sequence

annotation

One each of

female

and male

plant/

c-DNA-AFLP

Roy et al.

2008

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 229

Unopened floral buds have also been used to identify differentiallyexpressed and/or up-regulated genes in staminate and pistillate plantsof T. dioica. cDNAQ11 -AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphisms)analysis revealed 23 fragments associated with male and 8 fragmentsassociated with female sex expression Annotation revealed that manyof these fragments do not have homology to a known protein, but someshow homology to kinases, transfereases, proteases, heat-shock relatedproteins, and polygalactouronase (Roy et al. 2008).

I. Evaluation of Elite Lines

The evaluation system for elite lines, including hybrid clones, variesgreatly from country to country. In India, potentially important pointedgourd germplasm and elite selections are evaluated in multilocationtrials by cooperating public and private sector research organizationsunder the umbrella of All India Coordinated Research Project on Veg-etable Crops (AICRP-VC) with headquarters at the Indian Institute ofVegetable Research, Varanasi (Anon. 2000). Generally, the evaluationprocess takes 3 years. During the first year, selected lines are tested alongwith the best national check in eight diverse geographical locations forinitial evaluation trials. Based on yield and quality assays, the superiorlines are identified and tested in advanced varietal trials for the next2 years at the same locations. Finally, the best clones or hybrids areidentified on the basis of yield and quality data pooled over the 3 years ofevaluation andare recommended for release in the fourth year as variety/hybrid for commercial cultivation.

Fig. 5.4. Sex-linked RAPD markers in T. dioica. Agarose gel images showing the ampli-

fication profile generated by primer OPC14 from six male individuals (M), six female

individuals (F), and threeparthenocarpic individuals (P).Mr ismolecular sizemarker lane,

and MB, FB, PB are male, female, and parthenocarpic bulk DNAs, respectively. The arrow

indicates female-specific OPC14400 marker.

230 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

IV. FUTURE PROSPECTS

Pointed gourd is an important vegetable crop in tropical countries, suchas India andBangladesh. It is becoming popular in otherAsian countriesand in temperate countries as well. Pointed gourd can be a goodalternative for home gardens in view of its nutritional value. Two mainfactors have been suggested to determine the prospects of this crop intemperate climates: the ability of pointed gourd plants to adapt totemperate climate and market demand for its fruits.

In the recent past, efforts have been made to evaluate germplasmlines based on market needs, which has resulted in the release ofseveral improved selections. Consumer acceptance of pointed gourdcan be increased by isolating parthenocarpic lines that set fruitwithout seed, since seeds are unpalatable due to their hard seed coat.Parthenocarpic lines that set fruit without pollination would bedesirable. Transgene technology could be useful in developing suchlines, as has been achieved in some other vegetables, including squash(Donzella et al. 2000; Rotino et al. 2005). There is a need to conservethe highly heterozygous germplasm by establishing of field genebanks.

The vast diversity available in pointed gourd accessions in India andBangladesh needs to be exploited through expanded hybridization andselection programs. The sexual progeny would release large amounts ofgenetic variability from the parental clones, and progenywith new,moreuseful gene combinationswouldprovide additional geneticmaterials forimprovement of this very important vegetable crop. Genetic analyses ofmorphological and yield-related traits are needed to provide a rationalbasis for ongoing breeding efforts. However, methods to overcome lowseed germination need to be addressed.

The genetics and cytology of sex determination in pointed gourdrequires further effort, and the ambiguity involving heteromorphic sexchromosomes needs to be resolved. Thepresence ofDNAmarkers linkedto sex-determining genes may make it possible to isolate the gene(s)involved in this process.

Commercial propropagationwould facilitate large-scale production ofqualitypropagules of elite clones andhybrids, especiallyparthenocarpiclines. In addition, meristem culture could be employed to obtain virus-free planting materials. Processing of pointed gourd fruits for pickles orcandy preparation could increase returns to farmers. Themedicinal usesof pointed gourd fruits need to be verified to enable amore rational use ofthis vegetable to promote human health.

5. POINTED GOURD: BOTANYAND HORTICULTURE 231

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238 S. KUMAR AND B.D. SINGH

Author Query1. Should this be ital? check throughout text

2. Vegetables is a key word?

3. Note itals and verify use throughout

4. Should chemical compounds be spelled out at first use? see querylater in chapter, where some terms are spelled out

5. Define?

6. Give initial here and for all Singh references??

7. Spell out at first mention?

8. Earlier abbreviations were used for chemical terms; verify style hereand at highlights below

9. What is?

10. Meaning ok?

11. Spell out

12. Article title?

13. Publication info?

14. City of publ?

15. Verify need for caps for vernacular name throughout

16. Does asterisk after PVP need a note?

17. Should cultivars be in single quotes? If so, please add