Bottle Gourd

BOTTLE GOURD

Scientific Classification  Kingdom:

Division: Class: Order: Family: Genus: Species:

Plantae Magnoliophyta Magnoliopsida Cucurbitales Cucurbitaceae Lagenaria siceraria

Binomial name: Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.

Different types of bottle gourds

CRAFTS OF BOTTLE GOURDS

INTRODUCTION  Bottle

gourd is grown for immature fruits for culinary purposes.

 It

is also useful for preparation of sweets.

 Hard

shells are used as utensils, floats for fishing nets and in preparation of some musical instruments.

 It

is cultivated commercially in the Indo Gangetic plains of north India as summer crop.

 In

India it is cultivated in U.P, PUNJAB, GUJARAT, ASSAM, MEGHALAYA and RAJASTHAN.

The oil extracted from kernels of seed - a fine cooking medium , It is also used as hair oil.

CLIMATE AND SOIL  Bottle

gourd can be grown on all types of soils if these are not too much acidic pH <5.5 or saline and alkaline.

 Loam  The

or sandy loam soil is most suitable.

soil should be rich in organic matter and with good drainage.

 Salinity

and alkalinity adversely affect the crop.

 Night

and day temperature of 18 C to 22 C and 30 C to 35 C respectively is optimum for its proper growth and high fruit set.

 The

day temperature above 40 C may cause scorching of leaves.

 Temperature

lower than 10 C reduces metabolic activity of seeds for germination.

 The

seed germination is fast at 25 C to 30 C

 The

crop grown at optimum temperature has high proportion of female flowers and fruits per plant.

 Higher

temperature induces emergence of male flowers and wide sex ratio.

VARIETIES  Important

varieties recommened for commercial cultivation are:

 ARKA

BAHAR :The fruits are straight ,not crook necked ,medium sized,weighing about 1 Kg each at edible stage,skin light green. yields high in mild climate.

 KALYANPUR

HARI LAMBI:

It is recommended for planting in both summer and rainy seasons. Fruits are long and slightly dark green in colour. The fruit yield is about 25 tonnes per hectare.

NDBG 1 :  Fruits

are uniform light green,long,slightly thinner and curved near pedicel end.

It is recommended for spring-summer crop for upland and river basins, Yield is about 25 tonnes per hectare.

NDBG 4 A

promising hybrid, it produces first edible fruits within 55 days.

 Fruits

are near cylindrical long and attractive,

 Average

yield being 30-35tonnes/ha.

PBOG 1 : A

promising hybrid

 it

is quite suited for northern plains.

Phule BTG 1 Recommended for cultivation in Maharashtra.  The fruits are long, bottle shaped, uniform and green.  Average length of edible fruit is about 3040 cm.  It produces comparatively more female flowers from basal nodes and it gives early yield. 

PUNJAB KOMAL

It produces early, oblong fruits.  On an average each plant produces 10-12 fruits, weighing 600 gm each.  Duration from fruit set to edible fruit is shortest in this variety.  The fruits become ready for picking 70 days after sowing.  Female flowers appear on 4-5th node onwards.  It has tolerance to cucumber mosaic virus. 

PUNJAB LONG :  The

fruits are long, tender, light green and attractive,  yield being 20 tonnes/ha.

PUNJAB ROUND 

Plants are vigorous and prolific-bearer.

 The

fruits are spherical , tender and shining.

 Recommended

for cultivation in Punjab.

 PUSA

MANJARI : A high yielding hybrid,its fruits are round,green,tender and attractive.Recommended for spring sowing. .

PUSA MEGHDUT

A

high yielding hybrid , comparatively gives early yield and suitable for both spring and summer.

 Fruits

are long, light green, tender and attractive

SAMRAT

PUSA NAVEEN :

Fruits are straight cylindrical and free from crook neck.

 Edible

fruit length is 30cm and weighs about 850gm.

PUSA SUMMER PROLIFIC LONG :  Fruits

are long,uniform,light green,neck generally bent.

 Edible

fruit yield is about 30tonnes/ha.

PUSA SUMMER PROLIFIC ROUND 



.

Grows vigorously and is a prolific bearer. Fruits are round,15-18cm in girth.

RAJENDERA CHAMATKAR

 Fruits

are long(50-60cm),uniform green and bottle shaped

 The

yield is 20-25tonnes/ha

Spoon bottle gourd & Bird house gourd

CHINESE BOTTLE GOURD & GHOST BOTTLE GOURD

JAPANESE ROUND & HYBRID GREEN BELL

MED-LONG & MINI- BOTTLE GOURD

HYBRID INDIA LONG & GREEN STAR

HYBRID EXTRA LONG& HYBRID ASIA SHORT

HYBRID LATTO & HYBRID- INDIA GLOBE

FIELD PREPARATION  The

land is ploughed with disc harrow followed by 3 cross ploughings with cultivator and FYM is added during ploughing.  After levelling the field,40-50cm wide channels are made at a distance of 2-2.5m for irrigation.

SOWING  Generally

brownish or whitish seeds germinate well.Bottle gourd seeds germinate poorly for about 2-3 months.Water soaked seeds for 24-48 hrs germinate quickly.  About 3-4kg seed is enough for hectare and seeds should be sown with a distance of 1-1.5m between each other.

BOTTLE GOURD SEEDS

SEEDLING

Field View

MANURING AND FERTILISATION  Application

of manures and fertilizers depends upon the soil status.

 During

field preparation FYM is added @ 30 tonnes/ha.

 Total

P&K and half of N can be applied basally 8-10cm away from the seeds.

 Optimum

fertilizer combination is needed for proper growth of plant and good fruiting.  N deficiency causes yellowing of vine & foliage & checks the vegetative growth whereas excess dose promotes excess biomass accumulation which reduces fruiting and also produces more number of male flowers which is undesirable.

K deficiency 

Reduces plant height,



Increases flower drop



Checks fruit yield.

TRAINING  Vines

of spring-summer crop are allowed to spread between the channels/rows.  The vines of rainy season crop are trained to spread on bower made from thin coconut rope/wire &bamboo sticks.  Training prevents fruit from rotting & allows the vines & foliage better exposure to air & light and increases marketable fruit yield.

INTERCULTURE  Weeding

& Hoeing should be done along & between the rows.  Application of N & earthing-up should be done before emergence of tendrils.  Tall grass growing above the foliage should be pulled up.

BOTTLE GOURD AMONG THE WEEDS

IRRIGATION  In

February-March sown crop, 1st irrigation is given 2-3 days after sowing.  In north Indian plains during April-June, the crop should be irrigated at 4-5 days intervals.  Care should be taken that irrigation water does not overflow the channels at least in the 1st four irrigations,this prevents emergence of weeds between the channels.

HARVESTING &POST -HARVEST MANAGEMENT  Bottle

gourd may be harvested 55-75 days after sowing.  The bottle gourds are edible mature,if the fruit skin colour facing to sunlight is as green as one week old fruits.  The fruits should be harvested within 3 days of the shedding of the small hairs present on the skin.

 At

the stage,the seed inside the pulp is as soft as pulp of the fruit & rind of the fruit is very tender.  After this stage ,the colour of the fruit skin starts becoming white,fruit rind hardens and seed coat also becomes hard and unfit for eating.

 While

or after harvesting, there should not be no scratch or bruising on the skin of the fruit which make it blackish & lower down the market value.  Insertion of some soft material,paper,soft grass or any packing material may be done between the fruits.  The harvested fruits should be sprinkled with water after every 4-5 hr or put in cold store during pre-market period.

 The

fruits are allowed to ripen fully and even dry.For this,it is better to raise seed crop during summer instead of rainy season.  Because of thick seed coat, the seeds do not dry in humid rainy season.

CARVED GOURDS

DECORATIVE GOURDS

GAINT BOTTLE GOURD

MINI BOTTLE GOURDS

Mamatha.N