Everything you need to know about pointed guard cultivation, production and growth. Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Pointed Gourd 2. Origin and Distribution of Pointed Gourd 3. Composition and Uses 4. Climate and Soil Required for Cultivation 5. Planting Time 6. Plant Population Density 7. Manurial and Irrigation Requirement for Cultivation 8. Intercultural Operation 9. Harvesting and Yielding 10. Cultivated Varieties.
Contents:
- Introduction to Pointed Gourd
- Origin and Distribution of Pointed Gourd
- Composition and Uses of Pointed Gourd
- Climate and Soil Required for Cultivating Pointed Gourd
- Planting Time of Pointed Gourd
- Plant Population Density of Pointed Gourd
- Manurial and Irrigation Requirement for Pointed Gourd Cultivation
- Intercultural Operation of Pointed Gourd
- Harvesting and Yielding of Pointed Gourd
- Cultivated Varieties of Pointed Gourd
1. Introduction
to Pointed Gourd:
The pointed gourd having the common Indian names of “Parwal”, “Parmal”, “Panal” and “Patal” and being the highly accepted cucurbitaceous vegetable holds a coveted position in vegetable markets of India, particularly during summer and rainy season, however, the tender fruits are available consecutively for eight months from February to October.
This important crop is widely grown in the eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, in some parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat and some hilly tracts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This perennial vine crop survives for long time through giving rise to sprouts from the tuberous roots even left uncared.
Pointed gourd being having dioecious sex form is cultivated as an annual crop through vegetative propagation by either vine or root cuttings. Normally, a node in the male plant bears a leaf, one or two solitary male flowers on distinct pedicels, a simple or bifid tendril, a vegetative shoot and a glandular bract, while that of the female plants also bear the same parts except one or two (sometimes even four) female flowers on very short and indistinct peduncles.
The female flower, which is terminated by three bilobed or divided stigmas, is 1-5 (usually 3) carpellary, thick, and short styled. Fruit, the main economic part, is botanically the ‘pepo’ the edible portion being mostly pericarp with little mesocarp. Fruits are not with high contents of bitter principle, cucurbitacin, which is commonly found in roots, shoots, and leaves.
2. Origin and Distribution of Pointed Gourd:
Trichosanthes is a large genus, principally of Indo-Malayan distribution with about 44 species of which 22 are found in India. Much earlier, De-Candolle (1882) recorded in his “Origin of Cultivated Plants” the species of Trichosanthes as being of Old World origin, most probably India.
So far, the centre of origin of Trichosanthes is not precisely known even though most authors agree on India or the Indo-Malayan region as its original home. The proposition of Assam-Bengal region as the primary centre of origin of pointed gourd advanced by Choudhury (1979) was based on the rich diversity of this crop in this region including Bangladesh.
3. Composition and Uses of Pointed Gourd:
Composition:
Pointed gourd is known as the king of gourds because of having higher nutrient contents than other cucurbits. Protein content of pointed gourd is 10 times that of bottle gourd and 4 times that of snake gourd, ridge gourd, and wax gourd. Similarly, pro-vitamin A and vitamin C content is higher than many other cucurbits.
The protein, mineral, fibre and calcium contents of pointed gourd leaves are the highest (5.4 g, 3.0 g, 4.2 g and 531 mg per 100 g of edible portion, respectively) among all the cucurbits, and it also provides high energy of about 55 kilocalories. The nutritional composition of pointed gourd fruits is given below in Table 14.1.
Uses:
The tender fruits of pointed gourd are, generally, consumed as cooked and fried vegetable dishes, and also used in making curries and preparing pickles. Keeping the fruits filled with milk cake in sugar syrup a famous sweet is prepared in India. The newly emerged tender shoots with leaves are also a preferred potherb in many households in India.
There is a popular belief that leaves of pointed gourd are a preventive antidote of bile disorders and worms. The easily digestible tender fruit helps in proper renal functions and prevents constipation. It invigorates the heart and brain, and is significantly effective in several circulatory disorders.
4. Climate and Soil Required for Cultivating Pointed Gourd:
It is a warmth-loving crop, thus, thrives well under hot or moderately warm and humid climate, and the optimum temperature for proper growth ranges from 25° to 35°C. Abundance of sunshine and fairly high rainfall favour good crop yield. Regeneration of new sprouts is generally impaired below 20°C and severe cold below 5°C is bullying for the crop.
Vine growth becomes highly restricted during winter, which starts again along with sprouting from fleshy root at the onset of spring, however, pointed gourd can be forced during harsh winter months (November to February) in different river-beds or river basins, familiarly called ‘Diara’ lands in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, through planting of rooted vine cuttings in sand of riverbeds with required watering until they drive roots up to the water level below. Such moisture laden sandy beds get warm up quickly and wipe low temperature effect of the winter.
The pointed gourd crop can be grown in a wide variety of light textured soils having good drainage facility. However, a well-drained sandy-loam to loam soil with slightly acidic reaction (pH 6-7) is ideally suited for this crop. It can withstand low soil moisture stress but not the water logging stress.
5. Planting Time of Pointed Gourd:
Planting time of vine or root cuttings should be adjusted in such a manner that regeneration and sufficient vine growth may be completed in optimum temperature range of 25°-35°C before the onset of low temperature in winters, however, earlier plantings in first half of September in the Gangetic alluvial zone are not suitable due to high soil moisture conditions, causing rotting of planting materials.
The planting of root or vine cuttings after onset of winters delays sprouting and establishment of vines, and planting by the second fortnight of October in lower Gangetic plains gives vigorous growth and higher early and total yield. October- planting in this region is considered to be the best because the critical physiological vine maturity of around 100-110 days after planting for initiation of fruiting actually coincides with the rise in atmospheric temperature (February onwards), favouring both early and total yields.
Under South Indian conditions, vine cuttings are planted in either July-August or September- October in pits at a spacing of 2 × 2 m. In riverbed system of growing pointed gourd in north India, already rooted vine cuttings are planted in November and watered adequately until they drive roots up to the water level below.
Consecutively three successful crops can be taken from a single planting. In ratoon cropping, generally practiced in lower Gangetic plains, the vines are pruned 15 cm from the ground level during October after the fruiting is over and recommended dose of farmyard manure and fertilizers are applied by the end of winter as top dressing after loosening soil around the hills. The half dose of nitrogen is applied one month after flowering.
Unlike other cucurbits, the seed is not recommended as commercial propagating material because of the following reasons:
i. Poor seed viability and germinability.
ii. Production of about 50% of male plants from the seeds due to segregation of male and female plants since the sex is determined by the physiological difference in one chromosome.
iii. Long, even two years’ time for initiation of flowering.
This vegetatively propagated crop through both by vine or root cuttings is generally planted directly in the main field. Sometimes, the vine cuttings are buried in sand medium to initiate rooting, particularly for planting them in riverbeds. The vine cuttings placed in sand with adequate moisture supply in October for rooting become ready for transplanting within two to three months.
Cuttings are taken from mature vines and are defoliated before planting. Very small or very big cuttings from both root and vines are never ideal, 15 cm root cuttings and 60 cm vine cuttings with 10-15 nodes being considered as the best propagating materials.
Pointed gourd can be planted on the ground, and the vines are trained over the bowers or trellises, however, the ground culture on beds is more common. After thorough ploughings, raised beds of 15 cm height, 3 m width, and convenient length are prepared maintaining 60-75 cm spacing between two beds, which serve the irrigation cum drainage channel. Digging pits and subsequent filling with soil and farmyard manure in equal proportion prepare the mounds spaced by 60 cm on both sides of the bed at the close proximity of the channel.
The fruits are less prone to rot disease and more consumers acceptable when grown on trellis made at 60 cm height with bamboo, ropes, and wires. Mounds are prepared in the same manner. However, the planting distance is reduced to 2×0.60 m to accommodate more number of plants per unit area. Harvest span and net return from the crop can also be increased through practicing trellis system of pointed gourd cultivation.
The vine cuttings may be planted on mounds following different methods:
Lachhi or Lunda (figure of eight), moist lump, straight vine or ring method. In moist lump method, a lump of moist soil is encircled with the cutting of 60-90 cm length keeping both the ends of 15 cm free and is buried in soil 10 cm deep leaving the cutting ends above the soil.
In straight vine method, cuttings are planted horizontally 15 cm deep leaving both the ends above the soil. Ring method is rather widely practised in the eastern India in which coil of a vine cutting is made and planted on mounds covering half of it with soil.
Propagating pointed gourd from vines require a definite length of cuttings requiring huge quantity of planting materials to cover the field and such inconvenience may be mitigated by micro-propagation. Rapid in vitro multiplication in pointed gourd could be possible by culturing shoot tip and nodal explants on Murashige and Scoog medium containing IAA and IBA and plantlets be acclimatised and established ex vitro with varying efficiency (75-95%) in different genotypes.
Good establishment of regenerated plantlets (over 70%) in soil medium could also be achieved using physiologically mature seeds as explants cultured in different hormones (BA, NAA, etc.) media.
6. Plant Population Density of Pointed Gourd:
Pointed gourd is a long duration crop of about 8 months, and so, a very high-density planting affects its growth and yield adversely. Mounds in bed at a spacing of 2 × 2 m is generally practiced, however, 3.0 × 0.60-0.75 m spacing accommodating about 9000 plants per hectare has given satisfactory yield in different clones under lower Gangetic plains.
In another study, Dash et al (2000) obtained the highest yield from female clones planted 15 plants per plot in a circular manner at 1.5 m distance from a single male plant at centre of the circle.
Pointed gourd being a dioecious crop needs some male plants in field for steady supply of pollens for proper fertilization of ovules in fruits borne in female clones since proper fertilization is obligatory for getting well-developed and marketable fruits. About 10% male plants population in field is considered enough for maximum fruit set.
Although red brown beetle (Carpophilus dimidiatus) contributes significantly to cross pollination but hand pollination in female flowers, widely practised now a day due to paucity of pollinator population and environmental pollution, even results in a two-fold increase in fruit set over natural pollination.
Pollens from a single male flower are generally sufficient to pollinate 7-8 female flowers simply by touching the stigma. Male and female buds take 11-16 and 7-12 days, respectively to develop and open fully. Stigma becomes receptive 6 hour before anthesis with peak receptivity at 12th hour after anthesis.
Maximum pollen germination takes place during anthesis between 6 and 11 p.m. with the peak at 9.00 to 9.30 p.m., and then, retards gradually so hand pollination must be completed as early as possible in the morning hours preferably within a time of 5.0- 5.30 a.m.
7. Manurial and Irrigation Requirement for Pointed Gourd Cultivation:
Pointed gourd being a long duration crop responds favourably to nutrition. Farmyard manure 20- 25 t/ha applied at the time of mound preparation ensures sustained vegetative growth and satisfactory yield. Das et al. (1987) recommended a fertilizers (N : P : K) dose of 90 : 60 : 40 kg/ha for lower Gangetic plains of West Bengal. The dose of potassium fertilizer may be raised to 60 kg/ha in soils deficient in potassium. The various researchers have recommended the different doses of fertilizers presented as under in Table 14.2.
One third dose of nitrogen and full doses of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers are to be applied as basal application at the time of mound preparation and the rest amount of nitrogen is applied in two splits, one at the onset of flowering and the other, after one month. This plant nutrition schedule is followed for the October planted crop, however, for December planted crop, after the harvest of Kharif paddy, half of nitrogen and full dose of phosphatic and potassic fertilizers are applied as basal and rest half of nitrogen is side-dressed at flowering stage.
Pointed gourd is basically a drought hardy crop, thus, can withstand low soil moisture stress but not the water logging conditions. During monsoon season, it does not require any irrigation, but during winter and summer months, the crops should be irrigated properly particularly at sprout elongation stage for proper growth and development of the crop.
8. Intercultural Operation of Pointed Gourd:
Once the vines start growing and cover some of the available space, it becomes difficult to manage both the crop and the weeds whether the crop has been grown in beds or on bowers. Major weed species associated with pointed gourd are Cyanodon dactylon, Chenopodium album, Echinochloa colona, etc. Weeds do compete with the crop for water, nutrients, light and space so hoeing and weeding should be done at initial stages of crop growth.
Straw mulching can also keep the weed status low for considerable period of time. Application of herbicides, like gramoxone @ 1 litre a.i. or fernoxone @ 0.8 litre a.i. per hectare as post- emergence spray along with mulching can effectively control the weed growth and ensures maximum total yield.
Pointed gourd grown on beds is intercropped with different vegetable crops, like beet leaf, radish, coriander, fenugreek, cauliflower, pea, etc. during early stages of growth (October-January) for better land use and greater economic return, but success of the companion crop largely depends on proper weeding.
Mulching with straw, water hyacinth, sugarcane tresses, dry grasses, sawdust, papers, or black polyethylene giving variable results is mainly intended for moisture retention, checking of weed growth and fruit deterioration. Paddy straw mulch being economical and easily available is widely used in large-scale cultivations, and it has been found to have increased fruit number and yield by 88 and 81%, respectively over unmulched cultivation. Irrigation at IW/CPE of 1.8 in combination with mulching with straw also saves 42.5 cm water.
9. Harvesting and Yielding of Pointed Gourd:
Harvesting, generally, starts 90-100 days after planting. In October planted crop of Gangetic alluvial zone of West Bengal, harvesting of fruits, generally, starts from middle of February and continues to July at frequent intervals and up to September if new flushes come with the monsoon rains. Harvesting should be done frequently when the fruits are immature, tender with soft seeds inside and 7 to 15 days’ fruit after flowering depending on cultivars are ideal for both quality and yield. Delay in harvesting reduces further fruiting capacity of the vine.
Fruits remain marketable for 3-4 days under ordinary storage conditions. Dipping of freshly harvested tender fruits in solution of growth substances, like kinetin (50 ppm), GA3 (20 ppm), CCC (100 ppm) or NAA (20 ppm), or chemicals, like sodium benzoate (200 ppm) or potassium metabisulphite (1900 ppm) for 10 minutes, subsequently air drying and storing in a zero energy cool chamber at 27-31°C with 94-96% relative humidity increase the shelf life by four days with almost non-shrinkage and very low yellowing.
Som et al. (1998) also recommended fruit dipping in 250 ppm sodium benzoate or 100 ppm citric acid solution for extending the shelf life of fruits up to eight days.
Yield generally depends on plant population and prevailing weather conditions during fruiting period. In 3.0×0.60-0.75 m spacing, accommodating about 9000 plants per hectare has given yield ranging from 131 to 170 q/ha in different clones under lower Gangetic plains. Ratooncrop, if managed properly, generally, gives higher yield compared to the first year.
10. Cultivated Varieties of Pointed Gourd:
Extensive clonal variation in this crop exists in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh because heterozygous nature and asexual propagation lead to large number of diverse cultivars on farmers’ field. Based on fruit shape, size and striation in them.
Singh (1989) first time assigned the female clonal diversity to four groups- 10-16 cm long, thick, dark green fruits with very faint stripes and pale green colour; 10-13 cm long, dark green fruits with white stripes; 5-8 cm long roundish, dark green fruits with stripes and small fruits but tapering towards ends, green and striped.
Elaboration of this basic grouping considering seventeen growth and fruit characters led to clustering the female clones under four groups- clones bearing small fruits of mostly oval and tapering shape, and spindle shape in some clones (Group-1), clones bearing spindle shaped fruits (Group-2), clones bearing oval fruits (Group-3), and clones bearing nearly cylindrical fruits (Group-4).
Significance of mean difference for different characters indicated Group 1, 2, and 3, however, the Group 4 as distinct ones. Only fruit characters have been found contributed significantly to the separation of clones. Fruits of cultivars are marketed under different local names without any standardization in nomenclature.
Some of such popular local cultivars in three important pointed gourd-growing states are given below:
a. West Bengal- Damodar, Kajli, Kajli Bombai, Kajli Damodar Chandra, Sandhamani, Hilly, Guli, Shampuria, Dhanpa, etc.
b. Uttar Pradesh- Dandali, Kalyani, Guli, Bihar Sharif, etc.
c. Bihar- Dandali, Nimia, Hilly, Santokhwa, etc.
Asexual propagation provides unique advantages and opportunity in breeding this crop because single outstanding clone selected from a population may form the basis of a new variety.
Some improved clonal selections developed by the State Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes are presented below:
This variety has been developed at HARP, Ranchi through clonal selection from germplasm of Champaran district of Bihar. It produces elongated, green-stripped, and soft seeded fruits. The yield potential of this variety is 15.0-20.0 t/ha.
This variety has also been developed at HARP, Ranchi through clonal selection from germplasm collected from Bhagalpur district of Bihar. It produces elongated fruits having long shelf life and is suitable for sweet preparation. Its yield potential is 20-25 t/ha.
This round and green-fruited variety has been developed through clonal selection at Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad.
This spindle shaped and green-stripped variety has been developed through clonal selection at Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad.
This spindle shaped and light green variety has been developed through clonal selection at Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad.
This improved clonal selection has been developed at Rajendra Agricultural University, Bihar.