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BREEDING OF BITTERGOURD

“ Floral biology and breeding methods “

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INTRODUCTION

Bitter gourd (momordica charantia L.)

Balsam pear/ bitter cucumber/ bitter melon

2n=2x=22

Grown for its nutritive value and medicinal

propeties.

Rich in Fe and vitamin - c

Summer and rainy season crop popular for its tender fruits

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ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

Indo-Burma center of origin has been reported by

garrison in 1977

Native of tropical Asia, particularly eastern India

and southern china(seshadri,1986)

Grown in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and

Singapore and extensively grown on china,

Japan, south-east Asia, tropical Africa and south

America.

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FOOD VALUES USES

Tender fruits → economic importance

Green colour of fruits →orange yellow (ripe)

Fe and vitamin-c rich → 0.61 mg & 88 mg/100g

Ca-20 mg, P-70 mg and carotene 126 µg

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Medicinal values of the

crop

Curing diabetes (cheratin), asthma, blood disease

and rheumatism.

Roots and stems of wild bitter gourds are used

ayurvedic medicine.

Fruits are easily digestible and acts as laxative.

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Other uses

Stored as dry vegetable.

Cucurbitacin-bitter glucoside-helps in preventing

spoilage of cooked vegetables of bitter gourd.

cooked vegetable remain fit for consumption for

2-3 days.

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Botanical classification

Kingdom- planate

Division- magnoliophyta

Class- magnoliopsida

Order- cucurbitales

Family- cucurbitaceae

Genus- momordica

Species- charantia

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BOTANY

Genus momordica has following species.

M. charantia (cultivated)

M. charantia var.muricata (highly bitter and small fruited, wild type)

M. dioica (kakrol, spine gourd)

M. cochinchinensis (sweet gourd of Assam)

M. balsamina (immature fruits are used as vegetable or pickle)

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Contd………

Monoecious, annual climber.

5 angled stem and furrowed

Tendrils- simple/ forked

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Flowers:

Calyx → 5- pentafid

Corolla → rotate, parted,

near to base

Stamens → 5, filaments

free &anthers

fused

Style- → short terminated

by 3 bilobed or

divided stigma

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cntd….

Fruits:

Pendulous, fusiform, ribbed, with tubercles

Seeds:

brownish

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Pollen viability and stigma

receptivity

Anthesis - 4.00 am to 7.00 am

Anther dehiscence - 5.00am to 7.30 am

Stigma is receptive - 24 hours before and

after anthesis (2 days)

Pollination - Honey bees

bumble bees

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Breeding objectives

Early fruiting

High female to male ratio

Thick fruits suitable for stuffing

Fruit size variation as per consumer preference

High yield (no. of fruit & fruit weight)

Resistance to fruit flies, red pumpkin beetle and epilachna beetle.

Resistance to mosaic virus

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Genetics of plant & fruit

characters

Characters gene action

1. Fruit colour green > white-monogenic

2. Seed colour dark brown > white-monogenic

3. Seed size small seed > large seed –monogenic

4. Spines on fruits spiny fruits > smooth both colour and surface are independent in inheritance

5. Bitterness in fruits qualitatively inherited

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Breeding methods

Single plant selection

Mass selection

Pedigree methods

Bulk population

Heterosis breeding

Mutation breeding

polyploidy breeding

Inter-specific hybridization

Inter-generic hybridization

Resistance breeding

Breeding for quality

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SELFING

Cover the mature flower

bud by using paper bag.

Get the pollen from male

flower of the same plant

and dusted on the stigmatic

surface of the female flower.

And cover the pollinated

flower by paper bag.

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CROSSING

Female flowers ready

to open in the next day

are covered by paper bag.

Rubbing the pollens of

desired male flowers to

stigma of female flowers.

Cover the crossed flowers

by butter paper bag for

few days.

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CONCLUSION

Very little attention was given to improve the

quality and productivity of this crop

Breeding for self staked varieties which are high

yielding and early bearing are a few of the

objectives in bitter gourd improvement.

There is a great scope to exploit heterosis in this

crop.

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