FLORAL BIOLOGY OF SNAKE GOURD (Trichosanthes cucumerina L.)
Date
1999
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BANGABANDHU SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY GAZIPUR
Abstract
Floral biology and yield performance of different snake gourd (Tricosanthes
cucumerina L.) genotypes were investigated to develop high quality and
yielding variety (ies). There were differences between the snake gourd
genotypes in respect of floral biology and yield potentiality. Size of the
female flowers were larger than the male flowers. At 13" to 18" node in
acropetal order, male flowers appeared within 32 to 35 days and at 23" to
35" node, whereas female flowers appeared within 35 to 45 days. Thirty six
to thirty eight days needed to open the male flower and 39 to 49 days
required for the female flower after transplanting. Starting of the anthesis
occurred within 7 to 8 pm in male flowers and required 19 to 33 minutes for
full blooming. The anthesis of the female flower started from 7 pm to 8 pm
and completed their full blooming within a range of 80 to 124 minutes.
Description
Vegetables are rich and cheaper source of vitamins and minerals. It
grows in Bangladesh in 0.195 million hectares of land which is only about 1%
of the enltivated area (BBS, 1998). Winter vegetables were grown in 60.12%
of the area while 39.88% area were covered by summer vegetables in 1996-
97 (BBS, 1998). So, the. distribution of the land for vegetable cultivation is
not even throughout the year. The annual production of vegetable is 1.29
million metric tons in 1996-97 (BBS, 1998). Per capita consumption of
vegetable in Bangladesh is about 50g/day which is the lowest among the
countries of South and South East Asia (Rekhi, 1997). But the daily
requirement is 300g per capita (BARI, 1991). There is a big gap between the
need and supply of vegetable in Bangladesh. Hence, improvement of
vegetable crops should be done to meet up the increasing demand.
Keywords
Flower morphology of snake gourd, Pollen of snake gourd with three germ pores, Pollen tube growth behaviour in the pistils of snake gourd