Character association and genetic divergence in teasle gourd (Momordica subangulata subsp. renigera)

Abstract

Teasle gourd (Momordica subangulata subsp. renigera) is very nutritious fruit vegetable (Ram et al. 2001; Singh et al. 2009) but they are still regarded as minor/ underutilized crops in India. Root cuttings from one year old matured female and male clones are collected separately after the senescence of the crop. The sprouted root cuttings of female and male clones are usually planted in separate plots at a ration of 8-10:1 during springsummer over trellises by the farmers of West Bengal. Female clones are pollinated manually either in the morning hours (9 a.m. to 11 a.m.) or the pollens from male clones are collected in the morning and used to pollinate female buds in the afternoon (4.30 a.m. to 6 a.m.) to get cent percent fruit setting. Eleven genotypes of teasle gourd were collected from the Gangetic plains (Nadia, Murshidabad, and 24 Parganas Districts) of West Bengal, North-eastern states (Assam and Meghalaya), and evaluated in a Randomized Block Design during 2010 with three replications. The crop was raised over trellises,