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Quality parameters in cucurbits & Gourds

MANJAPPA S GPH D SCHOLAR

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, BANGALORE, KARNATAKA, INDIA

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Cucurbits

• Cucurbits forms an important & a big group of vegetable crops. • Cultivated both in tropical & subtropical countries• Uses: • Salad (cucumber)• Cooking (all the gourds)• Pickling (cucumber)• Dessert fruit (muskmelon & watermelon)• Candies & preserved (ash gourd)• Hard shell of bottle gourd – for making musical instruments• Mostly seed propagated except perennials like chow-chow ivy

gourd (coccinia)

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Cont…

• Germplasm: over 400 base collections of cucurbitaceous crops are under long term conservation in NBPGR

• Origin: Being a warm season crops, these are tropical in origin (Africa, tropical America & Asia)

• Sex forms: 1. Hermaphrodite form: primitive form, eg: Satputia variety of ridge

gourd2. Monoecious form: advanced form, eg: majority of cucurbits3. Andro-monoecious form (male+bisexual) : muskmelon & some

cultivars of watermelon4. Gyno-monoecious form (female+bisexual) : cucumber5. Gynoecious form: rarely in cucumber (potential for commercial

production)6. Trimonoecious form (male+female+bisexual)7. Dioceous form: Parwal, Coccinia & Kakrol

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Cont…• Cucurbitacin is of a class of biochemical compounds that

some plants — notably members of the family Cucurbitaceae, that includes the common pumpkins and gourds — developed in order to defend themselves from herbivores.

• Cucurbitacins are chemically classified as steroids, formally derived from cucurbitane

• Generally cytotoxic and poisonous to some animals, and some of them are among the bitterest tastes to humans

• They and their derivatives have been found in many plant families,some mushrooms (including Russula and Hebeloma) and even in some marine mollusks

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Some of the cucurbitsCommon name Botanical

nameOrigin Chromosome

no.uses

Watermelon Citrulus lanatus Africa 22 Fruit as dessert

Muskmelon Cucumis melo Africa 24 Fruit as dessert

Cucumber Cucumis sativus India 14 Salad, vegetable, pickle

Winter squash Cucurbita maxima

S America 40 Fruit & flower as vegetable, seed edible

Pumkin Cucurbita muskata

C Mexico 40 Carotine rich, vegetable

Summer squash

Cucurbita pepo C Mexico 40 Vegetable

Little/Ivy Coccinia indica Tropical Asia & Africa

22-48 Fruit & young shoot as vegetable

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Cont…

Bottle gourd Laginaria siceraria

Africa 22 Vegetable

Ridge gourd Luffa acutangula

India 26 Vegetable

Sponge gourd Luffa cylindrica India 26 Immatre- veg. mature for fibre

Bitter gourd Momordica charantia

Tropical Africa 22 Fruit – veg., seed condument

Snake gourd Trichosanthes anguinia

India 22 Vegetable

Pointed gourd T. Dioca India 22 vegetable

West Indian gherkin

Cucumis anguria

Africa 24 Vegetable & pickle

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Cucumber Uses: health & beauty products (perfume, lotions, soap,

shampoos)Fruit quality: skin color, spine color, presence/absence of wart &

spines, fruit shape & firmness• Fruit firmness controlled by two factors- a) Flesh firmnessb) Seed cavityFruit size: German classification Size 1 – 6-9 cmSize 2 – 9-12 cm Length /diameter ratio 3:1 is desired

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Cont…

two types: a) Slicing cucumber (dark & thin skin with cylindrical shape)b) Pickling cucumber (with white spines are more popular, because

they retain green color longer)Formation of bitter principle (cucurbitacin):• It belongs to terpinoid (monogenic dominant, Bi). Conc. of

cucurbitacin is highest in placental region than in pericarp of fruits.Testing for cucurbitacin:1. Tasting of the cotyledon of the seedling is simplest & most rapid

method of selection. But requires several people as tastes2. In large scale chloroform extract of seedling is applied to filter

paper & sprayed with antimony chloride (SbCl3) & heated for short time in UV light applied to blots show conspicuous fluorescence

varities: Japanese long green, Straight eight, Pusa Sanyog, Himangi, Phule Shubhangi, Sheetal

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Melons 2n=2x=24

• Immature fruit- fresh salad, cooked (soup, stew, curry, stir-fry or pickled)

• Mature fruit- dessert fruit, canned or used for syrrup or jam, dehydrated slices or pressed juice can be canned.

• Melon nuts are dietary source of unsaturated vegetable oil & protein may be slightly roasted & eaten like nuts.

• In ayurveda & Unani states that- these have cooling effect in body system.

• Also it’s a dimusculent, diuretic & aphrodiastic.• Applied as lotion in several skin conditions• Melon market- both domesticated & international• Different flesh colors & aromas are preferred in differed in

different parts of world

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Biodiversity (India) – MELONS

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Biodiversity (India) – MELONS

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Main quality

1. Yield – earliness & concentration (duration of harvest period). long harvest period is a constraint

2. Appearance: Fruit shape, size, color, smoothness (smooth/netted) & flesh

3. Flesh quality: sweetness, aroma, texture, firmness & color. High quality melon

4. Shipping quality: depends on rind characters (hardness, thickness, netting & firm flesh)

These are harvested at maturation (not immature) which is 7-10 days before peak ripeness & eating quality

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Watermelon

Breeding objectives: 1) Yield and quality: Number and total weight, consumer preference - small

size fruits (also favors mechanized harvesting)Quality : 10% TSS, deep red flesh few small seed. Higher TSS greater

preference, >12% very good, <9% not desirable.Texture of flesh: a. Melting ( or fine grained) flesh preferred . b. Fibrous( or course grained form)

2) Earliness: ( Pistillate/ hermaphrodite flower at early node), from flower setting to maturity require 30-35 days3) Exploiting dwarfness (Mechanized harvesting).4) Disease resistance ( Anthracnose, PM,DM and virus)5) development of F1 hybrids6) Tough skinned fruits for long transport.7) Development of seedless water melon

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Cont…Flavour: (Caramel) Some people will not recognize it: Associated

with intense red flesh, heritable and can be eliminated by selection.

Bitterness undesirable trait associated with lines derived from C. colosynthis.( gene transfer)

Origin: Africa• Primary centers of diversity : south west & central Asia• Secondary centre of diversity : China, Korea, Portugal, SpainGenetic resources: Durgapur and Faizabad centers made responses for collection

and evaluation of germplasm of watermelon

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Accomplishments

Seedless watermelon: First reported by Dr. Kihara (1939), in 1951-52 succeeded in

producing commercial triploid. Diploid pollen on triploid stigma stimulates parthenocarpy, but ovules fail to develop.

2x cochicine treat 4X x 2X

3X (reciprocal is not successful)But (Citrulus colocynthis) 2X x 4X

3X (possible but bitter)

Tetraploid produce less number of seeds than diploids and hence expensive to maintain teraploid

Limitations:triploid seed cost is 20 times of that of OP seedsDifficult to germinate (removal of seed coat),require high temperature (86o F )

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Varieties

• Special No. 1• Seedless -Betsy & Boobie

ARKA MANIK

Sugar BabyArka Jyoti

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Muskmelon (Cucumis melo ., 2n = 2x = 24)

It encompasses • Netted, salmon – flesh cantaloupe• Smooth – skinned green fleshed ‘Honey Dew’ • Wrinkled, white – fleshed, ‘Golden Beauty’ • Several other dessert melons in USA. Fruit quality: TSS, net type,flesh color, thichness & firmness, flavor, rind

thichness & color.Breeding Objectives:• Thick skin, thick flesh and good consistency.• Good flavour, attractive outer colour, flesh colour texture.• Varieties with attractive shape having small seed cavity, small and

negligible hollowness.• Varieties with sweet, juicy and flavorsome fruits are preferred: TSS >10

%( Flesh color and texture)

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Nutritive value

Per 100 g of edible portion

Moisture 95.2 g Thiamine 0.11 mg

Protien 0.3 g Niacin 0.3 mg

Fat 0.2 g Vit. C 26 mg

Minerals 0.4 g Carotene 169 I. U.

Fibre 0.4 g Calories 17

Carbohydrate 3.5 g P 14 mg

Ca 32 mg Fe 1.4 mg

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Varieties

ARKA RAJHANS ARKA JEETHigh yielding Oriental pickling melon

variety KAU

SAUBHAGYA (CM 8)

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Loofah 2n=2x=26

• Luffa acutangula- ridge gourd• Luffa cylindrica – smooth gourd• Immature fruits are used as vegetables & mature fruits for fibre (industrial purpose)• Both species contain a gelatinous compound – Luffein• Compared to ridge gourd smooth gourd contain more protein, carotene & fibersObjectives 1. Earliness 2. High female to male sex ratio 3. Uniform thick cylindrical fruits free from bitterness4. Tender, non fibre fruits for longer time5. High fruit yield and more fruit number with more fruit weight6. Resistant to powdery mildew and insects • Varities:• Smooth gourd: Pusa Chikni• Ridge gourd: IIHR 8

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Pointed gourd parwal (hindi), or potol

• It is used as ingredients of soup, stew, curry, sweet, or eaten fried and as potoler dorma or dolma (dolma) with fish, roe or meat stuffing

• Good for maintaining healthy heart & brain• Origin: India or Indo-Malayan region• Quality- Bitter principle are found in root, shoot & even in

leaf, but generally not in fruit. • Fruit quality – color, smaller, seed content & greater pulp• Germplasm resources: Narendra Deva University of Agril.,

Faziabad, UP & at Rajendra Agri. Uni., Sabour, Bihar• Good number of local varieties from WB have been assembled

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nutritional value: pointed gourd (parwal)

parameter raw

% trans fat 0. 00% fibre 0. 90% oil (ether extract) 0. 20% protein (n*6. 25) 1. 99% sugar 1. 82% total mufa 0. 04% carbohydrate 6. 70% total saturated f. Acid 0. 09vitamine c mg/kg 71. 38calcium mg/kg (as ca) 29. 12calories kcal/100gm) 36. 56cholesterol mg/kg 0. 00iron mg/kg 107. 51sodium mg/kg (as na) 53. 71vitamine a mcg/kg 108. 03% total pufa 0. 06

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Tondli (coccinia indica)

• Fruits are rich source of carbohydrate, protien (12%), vit. A (1.4 I.U.), vit. C (15 mg) per 100 g

• Fruits can be shipping long distance or stored for 2 weeks. Snake gourd

• Origin: India/Indo-Malaya• Good source of minerals, fibre & other nutrients• Trichosanthus is one the largest genera of cucurbitaceae,

includes about 44 sps. Of which 22 in India• Max. genetic variability of snake gourd occurs in south &

S-E Asia

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Bottle Gourd (white flowered gourd, zucca melon)

• Hard shell of fruit is used for making musical instruments• Fruits are bottle/crook necked since rate of pollen tube growth

may not rapid enough to allow fertilization of ovules over entire length of the ovary

• Decoction of leaf is very good for curing jaundice• Pulp is good for overcoming constipation, cough, night blindness &

an antidote against certain poisonQuality parameters: bitterness, hairiness, fruit shapeObjectives: 1. Greater fruit number & weight 2. Earliness (appearance of pistillate flowers at early node)3. High Female: Male flower ratio 4. Round, long, club shaped fruits 5. Sparse hairs persisting on skin 6. Non-fibrous flesh at edible stage7. Non- bitter fruits

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Per 100 g of edible portion

Moisture 96.1 g Thiamine 0.03 mg

Protien 0.2 g Niacin 0.2 mg

Fat 1.00 g Vit. C 6 mg

Minerals 0.5 g K 87 mg

Fibre 0.6 g Calories 12 mg

Carbohydrate 2.5 g P 10 mg

Ca 20 mg Fe 0.7 mg

Nutritional level

Varities: Pusa Manjiri, Pusa Naveen, Kalyanpur long green, Samrat

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Bittergourd

• A natural triploid (2n=3x=33) of cultivated sp. Was reported in India

• One of the most nutritious gourds, the plant has medicinal properties (germicidal property)

• A compound known as 'charantin' present in the bitter gourd is used in the treatment of diabetes to lower blood sugar levels.

• Bitterness due to momordiscosides, increases with age, prevent spoilage of cooked vegetable

• Seed injestion should be avoided because they are toxic (alkaloids)

Constituents Fruits

water (ml) 92.0

calories 25.0

protein (a) 1.2

fat (g) 0.2

carbohydrate (g) 5.0

fiber (a) 1.0

vit. A (ug) 110.0

vit. C (mg) 57.0

iron (mg) 0.2

calcium (mg) 13.0

Per 100 Grams of Edible Portion

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Cont…• Quality parameters: fruit color, shape & size, seed shape & size• Breeding Objectives 1. Early fruiting 2. High female to male sex ratio 3. Whitish green to glossy green fruit colour depending upon

consumer preference4. Less ridged fruit surface 5. Thick fruit for stuffing6. Slow seed maturation in the fruit. 7. High yield. 8. Resistant to red pumpkin beetle and fruit flyvarities: Pusa Do Mausmi, Pusa Vishesh, Preeti, Priyanka, Arka Harit,

Phule green gold

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Pumpkin & Squash

• Among cucurbits pumpkin have excellent keeping quality (3-4 months)

• Keeping quality of summer & winter squash is poor, thus it is essential to send fruit for market just after harvesting. Freshness may be maintained by sprinkling of water over fruits for 24-36 hours

• Breeding objectives: • Non ridged fruit surface • Thick fruit flesh & small seed cavity• Round/oblong/flat round fruit shape• Orange flesh color rich in beta carotene

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Varieties

• Summer suash: Pusa Alankar, Austrelian green• Snake gourd: Konkan Sweta, CO 1, CO 2, CO 4.• Pumkin: Ambili

Arka Suryamukhi ARKA CHANDAN

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Oxygation improves yield & quality & minimizes internal fruit crack of cucurbits on a heavy a clay soil in the semi-arid tropics

• Lack of oxygen due to sustained wetting fronts associated with drip & subsurface drip irrigated crops in heavy clay soil can negatively impacts on the yield, fruit quality & WUE

• Effect of aerated irrigated water with subsurface drip irrigation, employing an in-line air injector (mazzi venturi introduce 12% air by vol. of water)

• Season long WUE is greater with oxygation compared to normal

Crop Yield (t/ha) before oxygation

Yield (t/ha) after oxygation

TSS (%)

Watermelon 14.5 24.6 Increased by 19%

Pumkin 26.3 28.9 4%

Surya P. Bhattarai,2010, J. agri. Sci.: 2(3)

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Fruit rotFusarium anthracnose Bacterial wilt

Powdry mildew CMV Cucumber scabPhytophthora blight

Important Diseases

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Pests

• Red pumkkin beetle • Aphid • Fruit fly • Mites • Root knot nematode

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References

1. Vegetable breeding: Principles and practices, Hari har Ram

2. Competitive examinations in vegetable science, Dr. M.K. Rana

3. Horticulture at a glance: Bijendra Singh4. Vegetable Breeding: Kolla5. Vegetable: T. K. Boss6. Internet

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Thank u