BOTTLE GOURD

Scientific Classification
 Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Genus: Lagenaria
Species: 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.
 Itis cultivated commercially in the
Indo Gangetic plains of north India as
summer crop.

 InIndia 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 or sandy loam soil is most suitable.

 Thesoil should be rich in organic matter

and with good drainage.
 Salinity
and alkalinity adversely affect
the crop.

 Nightand 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.

 Highertemperature 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 30-
40 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.

 Duringfield preparation FYM is added

@ 30 tonnes/ha.

 TotalP&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