underutilized vegetable crops

1. General introduction of minor and underexploited vegetables
1.Parsnip
B.N:- Pastinica sativa
Family: Umbelliferae
Parsnips are valuable winter root vegetables,combining hardiness with the distinct flavour. Roots vary in the length
from 13 – 20 cm .they also vary in shape .bulbous types are squat with rounded shoulders and wedge shaped roots,
while the bayonet types tend to be narrow and longer.
Cultivation:- parsnip seeds do not remain viable for very long, so never use seeds that are more than two years old.
Parsnips are normally sown in situ as they do not transplant well. Parsnips seeds are light and fragile looking, so the
seed bed should be worked in to a reasonably fine tilt before sowing.
Roots are normally ready after three months of sowing. Avon resistor, cobhamimproved marrow, F1 gladiator and
white gem are some of the improved cultivars.
Celery (rare salad vegetables):-
B.N- Apium gravcolens
Family: Umbelliferae
The traditional English trench celery is grown for its crisp, white, branched stems, which are mainly used around
Christmas.
A mature celery plant has 7 – 15 celery distinguishable petioles, additional petiole developing at the apical meristem
are hidden by the otherlarge one. Leaves become progressively smaller and self branched because of light
exclusion.
Cultivation:-
For high quality and yield it must be grown under exacting climatic condition. Optimum production occurs when
mean temp. range between 16 – 21oC. seed germination and emergence of celery is slow. Germination at 10oC
requires more than 15 days.
The celery crop is normally harvested when the maturity of plants are determined to be of marketable size. Leaves
are cut sufficiently above the ground level to allow re-growth of new foliage.

2. Pointed gourd
B.N. Trichosanthes dioica
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Origin: India
Botany:-Plants are semi-perennial creeper, dieocious, and leaf lamina cordate, ovate and oblong with basal lobes
narrow round at base.Fruit is pepo botanically. They are small, round or thick long, green with white stripes or
green with no stripes.
Climatic and Soil Requirements:-
Pointed gourd prefer warm and humid climate. They remain dormant during winter season.They grow best in sandy
loam, perfect drainage andare very susceptible to water logging.
Planting Requirements:-
In order to plant one hac area of pointed gourd, about 2000 – 2500 cutting are required. Seed propagation is avoided
in pointed gourd because of germination and since it is dioeciously in nature produces male andfemale plants in
equal proportion if they are planted from the seeds.
Vine cuttings may be transplanted in august unplanned and in Nov. on riverbeds, spaced at 2 X 2 m. Vine cuttings
are folded in the shape of the ring and planted in pits, keeping the ends above ground.Also straight vin e cuttings are
planted on a furrow filled with FYM and soil, keeping the cutting ends above the ground.Since the crop is
dioecious, after every 10 female plants,a cutting from a male plant can be planted.In root cuttings,roots from old
vines and dug up and planted either in nursery or in the field.
Fertilizers:-At the time of land preparation 22 – 25 tons of FYM/hac. is mixed with soil in the furrows or in pits. A
fertilizers dosage of 90 Kg of N, 60 Kg of P2O5 and 60 Kg of K2O per hac is advocated to the pointed gourd.
Intercultural Operation and Irrigation:-
Weeding should be done only when plants have sprouted and are well set shallow intercultural operation should be
followed. Water should be given as and when required. Training the leaves over bowers gives high yields. Picking
also becomes very easy if the vines are trained.
Harvesting and Yield:-Pointed gourd is ready for harvest in 80 – 90 days after planting. Harvesting should be done
when the fruits are immature, tenderand still green. Yield is varies from 6 – 8 tons/hac.in the first year, while it
may increase to 14 – 15 tons/hac.during the second year.
Storage and Marketing:-
Fruits after harvesting can be stored under ordinary condition for about 3 – 4 days.Fruits are sells to the market in a
basket or gunny bags.

3. Varieties:-No improved varieties have been recommended, only local strains are planted in the different regions.
They are as follows:-Green oval, Green long striped,Davdli, Kalyani, Bihar sharit, Guly, FPS, FPG, FPI and
FP3.(FP for Faijasad Parwar).
Yam
B.N. DIoscorea spp.
Family: Dioscoreaceae
It constitutes an important source of food in tropical Asia and America. It is the rich source of Carbohydrates and
Proteins. The processing and consumption are still by conventional method. The conventional processing technique
is boiling, roasting,frying or conversion to fufu. Fufu is an important product made by yam. Yam flour is also need
for human consumption as kokoute northern zone Africa. The genus consists ofabout 600 sps.About 50 – 60 sps..
of Dioscorea are cultivated to a limited degree or gathered as famine ford. Following some sps.are used for food
purpose.
alata– greater yam (Asiatic Yam)
sculenta- Lesser yam (Asiatic Yam)
rolundela (white Yam)
bulbifera, D. hispida, D. trifida, D. dumetorum, D. opposite, D. japorica
Origin:-South East Asia- probably Burma or Assam(India)
Botany:-Yam plants have tuberor rhizome from which the vines and roots emerge annually during the growing
season.It is inferred that the yam, tuber is neither a root structure nor stemstructure but it may have its origin as a
hypocotyls structured.Male and female flower are borne on separate plants and thus the all the members of the
genus are dioecious.
Varieties:-Sree Keerthi, Sree Roopa, Sree Shilpa, Shree Latha, Sree Kala, Sree Subhra, Sree Priya, Sree Dhanya.
Soil and Climate:-Yams require a fertile, free drainage soil and grow best in sandy loam soil. High rainfall is
required for maximum production. Temperature in the range of 20 – 30oC promote better growth.
Propagation:-Yams are propagated vegetatively and tuber pieces are normally planted. For propagation,the whole
tuber is cut in to seed pieces consisting of tops (proximal), middles and bottomdistal. The sad Yams and tops are
preferred for their earlier and uniform sprouting.The tuber pieces may be dipped in cow dung slurry and allowed to
dry under shade before planting. A seed tuber weight of 200 – 250 gm is ideal for optimum production in D. alata.
For D. sculanta a seed tuberYam weight of 100 – 150 gm is optimum.
Land Preparation:-

4. The soil should be dug deep or ploughed to a depth of 10cm. on sandy soil yam are planted flat. Rising beds and
trenches are also used for planting. The seed pieces are planted at the depth of 15 cm in soil and planting deeperthan
this has been found to give lower yield.
Spacing:-A closer spacing of 75 cm X 75 cm is optimum for D. esculanta while a wider spacing of 90 X 90 cm2 for
D. alata and D. rotundata.
Interculture:-Mulching immediately after planting is beneficial for increasing the tuber yield. Staking exposes the
leaves to sun light and the yields of the stake plants are higher than those of unstake plants.Yams generally take
about 30 – 40 days for sprouting and under 2 months to develop a vegetative cover on the ground.The first weeding
may be done at 1 week after 50% sprouting and the second a month later.
Manures and Manuring:-Application of FYM@ 10 ton/hac.along with NPK@ 80 – 120: 60: 80 is optimum.
Phosphorus may be given in the single dose along with half dose of nitrogen and potash at the first interculture. The
remaining dose of nitrogen and potash mat be applied a month later along with second interculturing.
Harvesting:-Yams are generally harbvested at 8 – 9 months after planting when they attain maturity.
Asparagus
B.N:- Asparagus officinalios
Family: Liliaceae
Asparagus is an herbaceous perennial and the tander shoots called spears are used as vegetables and in preparation
of soup.It is also eaten as salad.
Origin:-The origin of asparagus is temperate Europe and Asia, where it has been in cultivation for over 2000 yrs.
Botany:-Asparagus is a perennial dioecious herb with erect branches and growing to a height of 1 – 3 m. Roots are
tuberous,occur horizontally inside the soil and save as storage organs.The leaves are narrow and needle like. The
crown is made of roots and rhizomes. The aerial stem(spear) arrises from a bud on the rhizome. The male and
female plants are separate and the female plants produce barries with 1 – 3 seeds/fruits.
Climate and Soil:-Asparagus prefer sandy-silt loam or alluvial soils (pH 6 – 7.5) with high organic matters. It is a
temperate crop and requires a temperate range of 15.5 – 23.8oC for most growing season for spear production.A
low temperature is necessary for 60 – 90 days during dormant season.For economic yield an evolution of above
1000 m is ideal.
Seeds and Sowing:-Asparagus is propagated through seeds orcrown. 3 – 4 Kg of seeds should be required to raise
seedling for planting one hectare. The sowing is done during March to May in hills and July to Nov. in plains and
seeds germinate in 3 – 4 weeks.

5. Crop Production:-The main field is prepared by ploughing 2 – 3 times after incorporating 30-40tons of FYM/hac.
Ridge and furrow are formed at a distance of 100 – 150 cm with a furrow depth of 20 – 25 cm. the seedling or crown
are planted at a spacing of 40 – 60 cm. after planting the furrow are filled with soil so as to cover the crown to a
height 2 – 3 cm. The seeds can also be sown directly on the sides of ridges. A basal dose of 20-30kg/ha N, 80 – 100
Kg/hac. K is applied. The seedlings are transplanted after 7 – 12 months. Crown taken from 1 yr old plants can also
be used for planting. Well grown crowns of good size containing large buds are selected,separated from mother
plants before buds sprout and planted within a few hrs.
Irrigation and Weed Management:-The first irrigation is given at a time of planting and this after at 10 – 15 days
interval. Weeds between rows can be kept under control by shallow hoeing so that the young sprouts are not
damaged.
Blanching:-Molding the soil to a height of 20 – 25 cm over the rows is practiced to blanch the young spears and get
white asparagus for canning. After harvesting the green asparagus sent forfresh market, blanching is normally done
to produce white asparagus.
Harvest:-The aerial shoots called spears arise from the buds on the rhizome 6 months after planting of crown or
seedlings.The spears should not be harvested up to 1 yr after planting the crown, because of active growth of root
systemand rhizome during this period. The production of spears is at the expense of food stored in the roots during
the previous yr and as such sufficient time should be allowed for storage of food materials. The first cutting should
be done two yrs after planting. In 1 yr, the cutting season should be restricted to limited periods of 2 – 3 weeks in the
first cutting and 8 – 12 weeks in the subsequent yrs ofregular harvesting. The spears to cut it off below the ground
surface with a knife called asparagus knife. Care should be taken while cutting so that the young adjacent sprouts are
not damage. Crooked and curved spears are rejected. The average yield per year is 1.2 – 3 tons/hac.
Post-harvest and Handling:-After harvest,they are made into bunches and carried to sheds,where grading,
trimming, washing and packing in crates are done. The spears can be stored at oC and 90% RH for a period of 3 – 4
weeks.