九州大学学術情報リポジトリ Kyushu University Institutional Repository Morphological and Ecological Characteristics of Pointed Gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) HASSAN, Jahidul Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University MIYAJIMA, Ikuo Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University https://doi.org/10.5109/2339052 出版情報：九州大学大学院農学研究院紀要. 64 (2), pp.183-189, 2019-09-02. 九州大学大学院農学研究 院 バージョン： 権利関係： J. Fac. Agr., Kyushu Univ., 64 (2), 183–189 (2019) Morphological and Ecological Characteristics of Pointed Gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) Jahidul HASSAN1* and Ikuo MIYAJIMA2 Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819–0395, Japan (Received May 8, 2019 and accepted May 8, 2019) Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is a dioecious, fruit type cucurbit vegetable originated in India and Bangladesh. Immature fruits at green stage are commonly consumed as a vegetable after cooking. It is extensively cultivated during summer season in tropical and subtropical regions but potential to grow in temperate regions due to its wide range of phenotypic and genotypic variability. The exploitation of these variations might be the basis for subsequent improvement of this crop. The purpose of this study was to investigate morphological and ecological characteristics for the selection of suitable genotypes for cultiva- tion in Japan. Mature vines of 33 (24 female and 9 male) pointed gourd accessions have been collected from Bangladesh and cultivated in glasshouse as well as open field at Hakozaki, Kyushu University in northern Kyushu, Japan. Among these genotypes PGF01, PGF02, PGF04, PGF08 and PGF17 have been selected for early flowering, maximum flesh content, fruit weight, fruit yield and fruit set rate, respectively. We also defined the germination potentiality of ripen seed treated with nineteen treatments. Scarification with conc. H2SO4 for 30 sec notably increased germination of 98.8% within two weeks though seeds soaked in tap water for 12 h provide 74.4% germination by a week. Therefore, tap water soaking for 12 h is considered as a cost effective, safe, time saving and convenient option for the farmers deal with large scale seed propaga- tion of pointed gourd. Key words: dioecious, fruit vegetable, pointed gourd, seed germination, Trichosanthes dioica. a vegetative propagated crop, there are several clones INTRODUCTION with distinct characters met with in different States. Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) is a However, the morphological characteristics of pointed dioecious vegetable belongs to the cucurbitaceae family. gourd under different ecological conditions than that of This species is a climbing plant and originated in Indian their origins have never been investigated apart from subcontinent. It is one of the most important summer Singh and Whitehead (1999) report. vegetables in India and Bangladesh where locally known Selection of suitable genotypes with desired traits as “Potol” or “Parwal”. Immature fruit which is would be very essential for the improvement of this crop. 10~12 cm length and 30~50 g at green stage is the main However, seed germination is poor in pointed gourd edible part and rich in vitamin A, proteins, minerals and (Bose and Som, 1986). Thus, lack of the information of also claimed to lower total serum cholesterol and blood seed germination technique in pointed gourd is a bottle- sugar (Pandit and Hazra, 2008 and Rai et al., 2008). neck for genetic improvement studies. Therefore, a Leaves and tuberous roots of this species are used in standard seed germination protocol would be helpful to Ayruvedic medicine (Chandrasekar et al., 1989) and provide a rational contribution for the advancement seeds for acid–dyspeptic disease treatment (Harit and breeding efforts of pointed gourd. Rathee, 1996). The present investigation was carried out at glass- Pointed gourd is usually grown in open field as trellis house and open field to select a suitable genotype in training under high temperature condition (30–35˚C) of response to the morphological and ecological character- its origin countries, but able to produce in temperate istics and propose an efficient seed germination tech- regions due to its adaptive potentiality (Singh and nique for large scale multiplication of pointed gourd spe- Whitehead, 1999). In India, it is extensively growin in cies. ‘diara’ lands in North Bihar and in eastern Uttar Pradesh however in Assam, Bengal, Orissa etc., it is also grown in MATERIALS AND METHODS loamy soils and in places with hot and humid climate (Bose and Som, 1986). The main precaution is to pre- Plant sample collection and cultivation vent waterlogging. In Bangladesh, it is widely cultivated Mature vine cuttings of 24 female and 9 male geno- in the districts of Rajshahi, Bogra, Rangpur, Pabna, types of pointed gourd were collected from different Jessore and Kustia (Rashid, 1993). Since this species is locations of Bangladesh. Among the collected vines, 14 female genotypes and 4 male genotypes were planted in the 30 cm diameter plastic pot with 1:1 (pamis sand : 1 Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental akadama soil) growing mixture and placed in the Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819–0395, Japan 2 Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka unheated glasshouse at Hakozaki campus (lat. 33˚ 37’ N; 819–0395, Japan long. 130˚ 25’ E), Kyushu University. Remaining * Corresponding author (E–mail: [email protected]) 10 female and 5 male genotypes were planted in the 183 184 J. HASSAN and I. MIYAJIMA experimental open field of the same university at a spac- 30 days. The first day of germination from seed sowing, ing of 2 × 1 m. Female accessions were denoted as last day of germination from seed sowing, germinating PGF01~PGF24 and PGM01~PGM09 for male. Only three period and final germination percentage was calculated. emerged shoots per accession were grown after germina- The test was replicated for three times. Each replication tion of respective vine cuttings to further growth those contains 19 treatments and 30 seeds were used for each considered as three replications. treatment. Morphological and ecological characteristics RESULTS The accessions were recorded for different morpho- logical and ecological characters such as days to the first Morphological and ecological characteristics of flowering from planting, number of flower (male and pointed gourd female), number of fruits, fruit length and fruit weight in Morphological characteristics of 14 female pointed both of their growing habitats. Hand pollination was gourd accessions cultivated in glasshouse are shown in done during night at anthesis and 5 fruits at green edible Table 1. The flower which appeared earliest was in stage of each female accession were harvested and fruit PGF01 and 76 days required after planting whereas it length, fruit weight were measured. Fruit set rate was required more than 90 days in PGF03, 04, 05 and 10. calculated with the following formula: fruit set rate (%) Other remaining accessions were produced first flower = (number of fruit obtained / number of pollinated flow- within 80~90 days after planting. More than 80% of fruit ers) × 100. set rate (%) were observed in PGF06 (83.8%) and 08 (88.4%), though PGF01 showed the lowest fruit set rate Seed germination test (37.7%). Remarkable variations were observed among Fully mature and ripen fruits (55–60 days after the accessions according to fruit length. The longest anthesis) of pointed gourd were harvested from plants fruit (13.3 cm) was produced by PGF04 followed by grown in the glasshouse and open field in Hakozaki cam- PGF03 (12.5 cm) and PGF01 produced the shortest pus, Kyushu University. The extracted seeds were (7.5 cm). Although, there was no significant variation washed with running tap water to fully removal of pla- observed for fruit diameter (data not shown), the fruit cental hairs. Moreover, seeds were still covered with more than 55 g were obtained in PGF03, 04, 08 and 12 mucilaginous layer at outside of the seed coat. To which had relatively long shape fruits. remove this layer, seeds were gently scrubbed on the On the other hand, morphological and ecological rough surface of steel made sieve without causing exter- characteristics of 10 pointed gourd accessions cultivated nal injury in the seed coat. Thoroughly cleaned seeds in the open field are shown in Table 2. Early flowering were spread onto paper towels and kept at room temper- was noticed in PGF19, which took comparatively short ature to dry. The dry seeds kept on a plastic zip lock bag time 109.0 days then others and statistically similar and stored in a freezer at 4˚C until use for germination. results were observed in PGF18 and PGF17. Meanwhile, For germination test, thirty seeds were used for delay flowering was found in PGF21 (132.3 days) fol- each treatment and primed with nineteen (19) treat- lowed by PGF22 (131.3 days) and PGF23 (131.0 days). ments. Physical scarification of the seeds was done by 44.5% fruit set rate was found in PGF24 while more than shaking in a plastic bottle with quartz sand for 30 and 60 two times higher of it fruit set was produced by PGF17 sec, tap water soaking for 6, 12 and 24 hours, hot water (92%). The highest fruit length (13.0 cm) was appeared (HW) treatment at 60, 80, 100˚C temperature for 10, 30, in PGF24 whereas PGF15 and PGF19 produced the 60 sec. Concentrated H2SO4 soaking for 10, 30 and shortest (8.5 cm) compared to other accessions pro- 60 sec was used as chemical scarification techniques. duced fruits. Individual fruit weight was also distin- Gibberellic acid (GA3) at 100 ppm for 24 hours soaking guished from each other, which ranged from 36.4 g was taken as hormone regulation treatment. No treat- (PGF23) to 58.3 g (PGF22). ments were applied in case of control sample seeds. After applying the treatments, seeds were rinsed in run- Flesh content and fruit yield ning tap water and put on paper towels at room temper- The highest flesh content (19.9) was measured in ature to air dry.