Morphological and Ecological Characteristics of Pointed Gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.)

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 cultivation 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. H₂SO₄for 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 propagation of pointed gourd.