production technology of ash gourd

1. TAMIL NADU AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
PANDIT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
&RESEARCH INSTITUTE KARAIKAL-609603.
Department of Horticulture
V-SEMISTER
HOR 311- Production Technology of Vegetable & Spices Crops(2+1)
Course Teacher: Dr.V.Kanthaswamy,Professor
Course Associate: Dr.M.S.Marichamy,Assistant Professor.
Submitted by
B.S.N.S.GOWTHAM KUMAR (BSA-12-815)

2. (Benincasa hispida)

3. Origin of Ash Gourd
• Ash gourd’s precise origin is unknown for a few reasons:
• First, it is an ancient vegetable; & secondly, ash gourd’s
incredible genetic diversity spans several regions.
• Botanists have come up with a few possible contenders
including Japan, Indonesia, China, and Indo-Malaysia. Indeed,
ash gourds have existed in all of these regions for thousands of
years—Chinese literature praises its medicinal value in texts
from 5 to 6th century AD.

4. Description
• The Ash gourd, also called white gourd, winter gourd, tallow
gourd, Chinese preserving melon,or winter melon,
• It is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable
when mature.
• It is the only member of the genus Benincasa.
• Ash gourd is an annual plant.
• The yellow flowers are either male or female.
• Leaves are 10 to 20 centimeters long and have a long hairy stem.
• The fruit is fuzzy when young.

5. Cont….,
• The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when
eaten By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy
coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a
long shelf life.
• The melon may grow as large as 80 cm in length.
• Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown
crop is not sweet.
• Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is
now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well.

6. FLOWER ASH GOURD

7. TNAU Varieties in Ash gourd
CO.1 (1971)
• It is a selection from a local type from Tamil Nadu with crop duration of
150 days. It yields 20-25 t/ha with good cooking quality.
• The vine is upto 400 cm. Fruits are globular, green, large oblong oval in
shape, ashy coated, about 35 cm length and 22 cm in girth with a mean
weight of about 6.8kg.
• The flesh is white and thick and less seeded (0.8%).
• The first harvest can be done in about 100 days and it extends upto 140-150
days after sowing. Moderately resistant to pests and diseases.

8. Cont…,
CO.2(1982)
• It is a selection from Coimbatore local with a duration of 120days. It is a
small fruited variety each weighing 2-3 kg with good cooking quality.
• Fruits are attractive, ashy coated, oblong or cylindrical in shape and are
compressed on both sides. Fruits are 25-30 cm long and 20-25 cm girth
thick with white flesh.

9. Kerala Agricultural University,
Thrissur.
KAU local:
• High yielding variety released from the Kerala Agricultural University. Fruits
are oblong, and medium sized.
Indu:
• High yielding variety with good flesh thickness released from the Kerala
Agricultural University. Yield potential is 24.5 t/ha. Mean fruit weight is 4.82
kg.
• Apart from the regular variety, an extra small fruited type, known as
Vaidyakumbalam, is also grown for medicinal purpose. This medicinal ash
gourd is morphologically different from the common vegetable type in fruit
size, rind thickness and shelf life.

10. Cont….,
• Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Hyderabad.
APAU Shakthi : its Fruits are long and cylindrical, yield 30-35 t/ha in 140-
150 days.
• UAS, Bangalore.
Karikumbala : A local cultivar where the fruits are covered with ashy coat.
• IIVR, Varanasi.
IVAG.502 : Fruits oblong with average weight of 12-13 kg. Yield 30-35
t/ha.

11. (KAU) Ekalavya – Ashgourd Variety
• Yellow mosaic resistant ashgourd variety Ekalavya has been developed by
Shri A.S. Joy by crossing a local variety with a resistant variety, followed by
repeated selections.
• Ekalavya takes 35-40 days to flower and 90-100 days to mature. Average weight
per fruit is 12 kg during monsoon and 4-6 kg during summer. Average yield is
250 tonnes per ha with average yield of 10 kg per plant.
• It is a short duration variety and has good cooking quality as well as taste. Dark
green colour of the leaves is speciality of this variety.
• Ekalavya has been found highly adaptive, eco-friendly, high yielder and resistant
to yellow mosaic virus.
• At present, 500 farmers are cultivating this variety.

12. Climate and weather:
• Soil
A deep loamy soil with the pH range of 5 - 7.5 is suitable. A warm tropical
climate is ideal for higher yield.
• Season
Planting is done during July and January.
• Seed rate
2.5 kg of seeds required are required for a hectare.
• Seed treatment
Soak the seeds in double the quantity of water for 30 minutes and incubate
for 6 days. The seeds are treated with Trichoderma viride 4 g or
Pseudomonas fluroscens 10 g or Carbendazim 2 g/kg of seeds before
sowing.

13. Cont….,
• Preparation of field
Plough the field 3 – 4 times. Dig pits of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm at a
spacing 2 x 1.5 m and form basins.
• Sowing
Five to six seeds are sown in each pit. After germination, the seedlings are
thinned to two/ pit.
• Irrigation
Irrigate the basin before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once in a week.

14. Cont….,
• Application of fertilizers
Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg/ha and Pseudomonas @
2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake @ 100 kg before last
ploughing. Apply 10 kg FYM and 100 g of 6:12:12 NPK mixture/pit as
basal and 10 g N/ pit at 30 days after sowing.
• After cultivation
Hoeing and weeding can be done as and when necessary. Spray Ethrel 250
ppm (2.5 ml/10 lit of water) four times at weekly intervals commencing
from 15th day after sowing.

15. Cont….,
• Trailing : Ash gourd is grown trailing on the ground by spreading dried
twigs and coconut fronds on the ground.
• Pollination : Ash gourd is a cross pollinated crop. Insects, especially
bees, pollinate flowers. Pollination can be a problem during the wet season
since bees are less active during overcast conditions. Introduction of bee-
hives ensures good pollination and avoids the need for hand pollination.

16. Cont….,
• Irrigation : During the initial stages of growth, irrigate the crop at 3-4
days interval, and alternate days during flowering/fruiting. Furrow
irrigation is the ideal method of irrigating. But in water limited envi-
ronment, trickle or drip irrigation can be resorted to. During rainy season,
drainage is essential for plant survival and growth.
• Hormone application : Spraying vines with flowering hormones
increases the number of female flowers and can double the number of
fruits. For example, one application of gibberellic acid at 25-100 ppm
increases female flowers by 50 % and can work for up to 80 days.
Application of ethrel (an ethylene releasing compound) has also been found
to increase femaleness.

17. Quality seedling production:
• Nursery raising
In hi-tech horticulture, use 12 days old healthy seedlings obtained from
shade net houses for planting. Raise the seedlings in protrays having 98
cells. Use well decomposed cocopeat is used as medium. Sow one seed per
cell. Water regularly twice a day. Transplant about 12 days old seedlings in
the main field
• Fertigation
Apply 60:30:30 kg of NPK/ha throughout the cropping period through split
application. 75% of phosphorus, is applied through superphosphate as basal
dose.
Recommended Dose: 200:100:100 kg/ha

18. Plant Protection
• Fruit fly.
1. Collect the affected fruits and destroy.
2. The fly population is low in hot day conditions and it is peak in rainy
season. Hence adjust the sowing time accordingly.
3. Expose the pupae by ploughing.
4. Use polythene bags, fish meal trap with 5 gm of wet fish meal and 1 g
of dichlorvos in cotton, 50 traps are required per hectare. Fish meal and
dichlorvos impregnated cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days
respectively.

19. Friut fly

20. Cont….,
• Leaf beetles, and leaf caterpillars: Spray malathion 50 EC 1 ml/lit
or dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit or methyl demeton 25 EC 1 ml/lit or fenthion
100 EC 1 ml/lit.
• Aphids:Apply 1.5% fish oil soap. First dissolve soap in hot water and
then make up the volume. Alternatively apply dimethoate 0.05%.

21. Diseases
• Downy mildew: Pseudoperonospora cubensis
• Cottony white mycelial growth is seen on the leaf surface. Chlorotic specks
can be seen on the upper surface of the leaves. It is severe during rainy
season.
• Control: Complete removal and destruction of the affected leaves.
Spraying 10 % solution of neem or kiriyath preparation. If the disease
incidence is severe spraying mancozeb 0.2% will be useful.

22. Cont….,
• Powdery mildew: Erysiphe cichoracearum
• The disease appears as small, round, whitish spots on leaves and stems,
which later enlarge and coalesce rapidly.
• White powdery mass appears on the upper leaf surface.
• Heavily infected leaves become yellow, and later become dry and brown.
Extensive premature defoliation of the older leaves occurs resulting in yield
reduction.
• Control: Control the disease by spraying Dinocap 0.05%.

23. Mosaic (Cucumber Mosaic Virus)
• Mosaic disease is characterized by vein clearing and chlorosis of leaves.
The yellow network of veins is very conspicuous and veins and veinlets are
thickened. Plants infected in the early stages remain stunted and yield gets
severely reduced. White fly (Bemisia tabaci) is the natural vector of this
virus.
• Control: Control the vectors by spraying dimethoate 0.05%. Uprooting
and destruction of affected plants and collateral hosts should be done.

24. Harvesting
• Ash gourds are mature when the stems connecting the fruit to the vine
begin to shrivel. Cut fruits from the vines carefully, using pruning shears or
a sharp knife leaving 3-4 inches of stem attached. Snapping the stems from
the vines results in many broken or missing "handles."
• The fruits can be harvested at different stages depending on the purpose for
which it will be used. Normally, green fruits are ready for harvest within
45-60 days; matured ones coated with powdery substance are harvested
between 80 and 90 days after sowing.

25. Value added products

26. The Petha of Agra is
more than a century
old.
It has been an Indian
favourite due to its
medicinal properties
and sublime flavour.
The clustering of
enterprises involved
in the production of
Petha sweet
occurred in Agra due
to the availability of
raw fruit here and
the fondness of the
local people for
sweets.

27. Ash gourd juice

28. Ash gourd raita

29. Ash gourd Thoran receipe

30. Ash gourd curry

31. THANK U….