Ash gourd is a very popular vegetable in Bangladesh but considering other type of gourds very few commercial hybrid ash gourds are available in the seed market of Bangladesh therefore an attempt was made to develop a suitable F1 hybrid for the vegetable growers of Bangladesh at BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC) using its active germplasms. After systematic collecting and evaluating germplasms suitable promising inbreds were selected based on their desirable characteristic features. These probable parents were crossed reciprocally and the F1 hybrid of Dinajpur X BARDC was found to be suitable as this hybrid exhibited good vigour with excellent vine spreading habit and produced high degree of femaleness with good fruit setting performance. Its fruits were oblong type with good shape & size and the quality of marketable size young fruits were very attractive. Compared to check variety this hybrid was found to be tolerant to mosaic virus disease and its yield was also found to be satisfactory as its yield was recorded 94.44 % higher than the check variety ‘Jupiter’. Taste of its marketable size young fruits were very good and had relatively small quantity of seeds in its fruit. #To enjoy my video on pumpkin please follow the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa-EtqcuBMc&t=10s

1. 1
Development of a good quality ash gourd F1 hybrid through conventional breeding method
Sitesh C. Biswas*
BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre, BRRI, Joydebpur, Gazipur, Bangladesh
*Corresponding author: sitesh.cb@brac.net
Abstract
Ash gourd is a very popular vegetable in Bangladesh but considering other type of gourds very
few commercial hybrid ash gourds are available in the seed market of Bangladesh therefore an attempt
was made to develop a suitable F1 hybrid for the vegetable growers of Bangladesh at BRAC Agricultural
Research & Development Centre (BARDC) using its active germplasms. After systematic collecting and
evaluating germplasms suitable promising inbreds were selected based on their desirable characteristic
features. These probable parents were crossed reciprocally and the F1 hybrid of Dinajpur X BARDC was
found to be suitable as this hybrid exhibited good vigour with excellent vine spreading habit and
produced high degree of femaleness with good fruit setting performance. Its fruits were oblong type with
good shape & size and the quality of marketable size young fruits were very attractive. Compared to
check variety this hybrid was found to be tolerant to mosaic virus disease and its yield was also found to
be satisfactory as its yield was recorded 94.44 % higher than the check variety ‘Jupiter’. Taste of its
marketable size young fruits were very good and had relatively small quantity of seeds in its fruit.
Key words: Ash gourd, Benincasa hispida, F1 hybrid, Vegetables, Wax gourd.
Introduction
‘Ash gourd’ or `Wax gourd’ [Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.] is an important vegetable
widely cultivated in the Asian countries for its use primarily as vegetables. Presumably it has been
originated in Malaysia and it is cultivated throughout the plains of India, Bangladesh, Maynmar etc. up to
an altitude of 1500 m as South Asia is the home grounnd of the cultivated form of ash gourd (Peter 1998).
Besides fruits, its leaves, rinds of immature fruits, vines etc. are also used for consumption by the peoples
of the Indian sub continent and it is also a very important vegetable for the Chinese and Japanese people
too (Peter 1998, Verma and Behera 2007). Ash gourds are nutritious as it contains different kinds of
vitamins and minerals such as niacin, riboflavin, folic acid, iron, zinc, potassium, calcium, magnesium
etc. It is also a huge source of water and contains carbohydrate, fibre and small amount of protein. It is
used as an important ingredient for Ayurvedic medicine as well. In Bangladesh its vine plants are usually
cultivated directly on soil by preparing beds or on trellis particularly during the summer part of the year.
It can be mentioned here that in Bangladesh the summer is divided into 2 parts Kharif-1 & Kharif-2. In

2. 2
the Kharif-1 season (February-June) for cultivating ash gourds both bed preparation and trellis cultivation
practices are followed while in the Kharif-2 season (July – October) this vegetable is grown on trellis. To
prevent young seedlings from rain damage during the wet months seedlings are raised on polybags and
planted in pits prepared maintaining suitable spacing. Only a few years ago in Bangladesh ash gourds
were generally cultivated from local land races or open pollinate varieties but with the growing demand of
this vegetable in the market; farmers are searching for hybrid varieties to get maximum profits from ash
gourd cultivation. Ash gourd cultivation is rather easy and its marketable size fruits become available at
only 55 or 56 days after seeding. Due to these advantages in Bangladesh, farmers are shifting to ash gourd
cultivation from rice cultivation during the ‘Boro season’ in few regions adjacent to the township areas.
Besides traditional vegetable items like ‘Bhaji’ (stir fry), ‘Murighonto’ (stir fried young ash
gourd flesh with fish heads) or ‘Dalna’ (an item prepared from cubes of the flesh of ripened fruits stewed
with mustard paste) are some of the excellent vegetable preparations of the Bengali cuisine. ‘Morobba’ (a
form of jam) is also prepared from the flesh of ripened ash gourds and this jam can be stored for 3-4
months easily which can be eaten as preserved food items. ‘Bori’ a type of dried food item which is
prepared from the mashed flesh of ripened ash gourd mixing it with the pulse paste of black gram (Vigna
mungo). Another benefit of ash gourd cultivation is that its ripened fruits can be stored for a longer period
and can be utilized in the curry preparation during the lean period of vegetable supply. In Bangladesh
traditionally grown ash gourd varieties are disease susceptible particularly susceptible to the virus disease
and also low yielding. Despite the presence of considerable diversity in plant morphology, flowering
behavior and fruit characteristics in ash gourd very few work has been done for its genetic improvement
(Verma and Behera 2007) and particularly its degree of heterosis has not been explored adequately.
Sureja (2003) however reported as high as 37.6% increased heterosis over the best parent in ash gourd.
For commercial cultivation early season disease tolerant type hybrid variety with high femaleness is
desirable and an effort was made in BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC) to
develop high yielding good quality ash gourd variety/varieties. And to develop a suitable ash gourd
variety F1 hybrids were developed at BARDC through hybridization between inbreds among them one F1
hybrid was found promising details of which has been described in this article.
Materials & Methods
At first germplasms of ash gourd were collected from local markets and other different sources
and were evaluated accordingly at BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC).
Characterized active germplasms (total no. of germplasms were 32) were screened out systematically to
identify good parents to be used for making hybrids. Selfing was done of these innovative germplasms to
make suitable parents. Based on critical observation and evaluation of inbreds; 2 potential inbreds
(Dinajpur & BARDC) were selected to develop desired hybrids (Fig. 1). Seeds of the 2 best parents were
sown at BARDC during the Kharif-1 season of 2015 maintaining isolation distance. Recommended
cultural practices were followed to ensure better crop growth and development. At the flowering stage
along with other cross combinations reciprocal cross was made between these two parents-Dinajpur &
BARDC. Selected best size ripened fruits resulted from the crossing were collected carefully during the
harvesting period- seeds were collected from these fruits and F1 seeds were preserved finally for the
evaluation of experimental hybrids. In the following year for the evaluation of the hybrids, seeds of these
2 crossing combinations were sown on 25.07.16 at BARDC along with the check variety ‘Jupiter’
collected from a leading seed company of Bangladesh Lal Teer Seeds Co. Relevant data were collected

3. 3
and analyzed accordingly. Suitable size ripened fruits of the hybrids and check variety were harvested at
the end of the season and seeds were counted to determine the no. of seeds per fruit.
Results & Discussion
Results of the F1 hybrid evaluation has been presented in the Table.1. Data clearly showed that
the hybrid developed from the cross Dinajpur X BARDC is superior in terms of yield, disease tolerance
fruit size & shape than the other BARDC developed F1 hybrid BARDC X Dinajpur and the check variety
‘Jupiter’ (Fig. 2). On an average 94.44 % & 29.44% increased yield was obtained in the new hybrid than
check variety and the other hybrid of cross combination BARDC X Dinajpur respectively (Table.1).
Verma & Behera (2007) reported the mid and better parent heterosis as high as ~ 165% for yield per vine
in ash gourd in a heterosis breeding experiment. It is interesting to note that the identified hybrid
(Dinajpur X BARDC) flowered 9 days ahead of its hybrid developed from its reciprocal cross (BARDC
X Dinajpur) (Table.1). Verma & Behera (2007) recorded a small negetive heterosis in days to opening of
first male and female flower over the mid and better parent in an earlier reported experiment of ash gourd.
The suitable size fruits of the cross combination Dinajpur X BARDC were good looking oblong shaped
and tasty. On the other hand the fruits of the hybrid developed from the cross BARDC X Dinajpur was
found to be relatively shorter and not attractive (Figs. 5 & 6). Very recently Jin et al. (2020) reported the
outcome of a distant hybridization program where they crossed reciprocally radish and turnip. They
observed that when turnip was crossed with radish they got few hybrids but the reverse cross did not
produce any hybrids indicating that the same cross combination has a large difference in the reciprocal
cross.
Table 1. Mean table on yield performance of BARDC developed hybrid ash gourd.
Variety/c
ombi-
nation
1st
pick-
ing
date
Last
pick-
ing
date
Total
no. of
pick-
ings
Dura-
tion of
harves-
ting
(Days)
No. of
fruits
harve-
sted
Fruit
length
of
young
fruits
(cm)
Fruit
circu
mfer-
ence
of
young
fruits
(cm)
Fruit
wt. of
young
fruits
(gm)
Yield
/acre
(Mt)
Virus
inci-
dence
(%)
No. of
seeds
/fruit
Remarks
Dinajpur
X
BARDC
46.00 78.00 6.00 32.00 14.00 22.00 28.00 900.00 4.88 3.80 571.00 94.44% increased
yield and
relatively lower
incidence of virus
disease than
check variety.
BARDC
X
Dinajpur
55.50 79.00 5.50 23.50 13.50 18.00 20.00 500.00 3.77 17.65 949.00 Relatively
shorter size
fruits having
highest no. of
seed in its fruit.
Jupiter
(Check
variety)
33.50 43.00 3.50 15.00 7.50 21.00 24.00 700.00 2.51 33.00 623.00 Plants were
susceptible to
virus disease
and the plants
produced
inferior quality
fruits.

4. 4
One of the important feature of the new hybrid is that its no. of seeds per fruit was found to be
lower than the check variety and the other hybrid developed from reciprocal cross (Table.1). Fruits with
less no. of seeds per fruit are desirable as after cooking fruits with less no. of seeds offers better eating
quality. First picking of tender fruits of the selected hybrid could be started from 46-47 days and
harvesting of edible tender fruits could be continued up to more than one month.
Fig.1. Parents (Dinajpur & BARDC) of the new F1 hybrid.
Main features of the new F1 hybrid (Figs. 2, 3 & 4):
1. Excellent plant vigour and good spreading habit with stronger green vines and broad deep green
leaves.
2. High femaleness and good fruit setting.
3. Oblong shaped good looking almost uniform size fruits.
4. First picking can be started from 45- 46 days and the tender fruits can be harvested for a longer
period.
5. Tender young fruits are about 900 gm-1.00 kg and have less no. of seeds per fruit hence have
better eating quality.
6. Virus tolerant line and also exhibited tolerance to major insect attacks.
7. It can be cultivated throughout the summer season and its yield has been recorded as 4.88
Mt/acre.
8. Suitable variety for commercial cultivation.
9. Ripened fruits can be stored up to 4-5 months.

5. 5
Fig.2. Trellis grown new F1 hybrid ash gourd (Dinajpur X BARDC) at BARDC.
Fig.3. Young fruits of the selected hybrid. Fig.4. Dissected young fruits of the new hybrid.

6. 6
Fig.5.Young fruits of BARDC X Dinajpur. Fig.6. Dissected young fruits of BARDC X Dinajpur.
Kamalanathan et al. (1971) reported about ‘CO 1’ an ash gourd selection from the Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University (TNAU) which gave ripened fruit yield as 19.47 kg per plant with a mean fruit
wt. of 6.8 kg while Peter (1998) reported two ash gourd introductions which were found to be resistant to
watermelon mosaic virus disease. A few accessions of B. hispida resistant to viruses ‘PI 391544’ and ‘PI
3915454’ were also reported earlier by Providenti (1986). Rugeri (1968) however compared the response
of ungrafted and grafted muskmelon plants to ash gourd against Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum) and
observed that 90 per cent of plants belonging to each of the ungrafted muskmelon varieties became
infected while those grafted on ash gourd escaped infection.
References
Jin, P., Zhu, Z., Guo, X., Chen, F., Wu, Y., Chen, J., Wu, J., and Zhu, Z. 2020. Production and
characterization of intergeneric hybrids by crossing radish with turnip and with Chinese kale.
Euphytica.216, 90.
Kamalanathan, S., S. S. Rajan, S. Thamburaj and R. Subbiah. 1971. A high yielding ash gourd strain CO
1. Madras Agricultural Journal 58: 25-29.
Peter, K. V. 1998. Genetics and Breeding of Vegetables. Directorate of Information and Publication of
Agriculture. Indian Council of Agricultral Research. Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan, Pusa New Delhi 110
012.
Providenti, R. 1986. Viral Diseases of Cucurbits and Sources of Resistance. Technical Bulletin 93. New
York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell, Geneva.
Rugeri, D. 1968. Investigations on Fusarium wilt of melon (C. melo. L.). Phytopath Mediterranean 7:
150-53.
Sureja, A. K. 2003. Studies on heterosis and its relationship with molecular diversity in ash gourd
[Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.]. Ph. D (Hort.) Thesis, IARI, New Delhi, p. 172.
Verma, V. K. and T. K. Behera. 2007. Heterosis studies in ash gourd [Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.]
for yield and related traits. Journal of Tropical Agriculture. 45 (1-2): 51-54.

7. 7
Address:
Dr. Sitesh Chandra Biswas
Manager (Product Development Support)
BRAC Agricultural Research & Development Centre (BARDC)
Jogitola, BRRI, Joydebpur,
Gazipur, Bangladesh.
E-mail: sitesh.cb@brac.net
Mobile: 01730349845
----------------------------------------------------------- 0 --------------------------------------------------------------