CUCURBITS. This group includes cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), musk-melon (Cucumis melo L.), water-melon (Citrullus vulgaris Schred. Ex Eckl. & Zeyh.), bottle-gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.), bitter-gourd (Momordicac harantia L.), sponge-gourd (Luffa cylindrica (L.) Roem), ridge-gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.), snake-gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L.), pointed-gourd (parwal) (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.), round-gourd (tinda) (Citrullus vulgaris var. Fistulosus Duth. & Full), ash-gourd (Benincasa hispida (Thunb.) Cogn.), pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Dutch. Ex Poir), summer squash (C. pepo L.), winter squash (C. maxima Duch.) and a number of other crops mostly of trailing habit. They all belong to the family Cucurbitaceae and are grown during summer.
The majority of them are monoecious and a few are dioecious, hermaphrodite and andrmonoecious.
VARIETIES.
Cucumber : 'Japanese Long Green', 'Straight Eight', 'Balam Khira', 'Khira Poona', etc.
Musk-melon : 'Pusa Sharbati', 'Lucknow Safeda', 'Hara Madhum Kutana', 'Durgapur', 'Madhu', 'Arka Jeet', 'Arka Rajhans', etc.
Water-melon : 'Sugar Baby', 'Asahi Yamato', 'Charleston Grey', 'Pusa Badana' (seedless), 'Tetra-2', etc.
Bottle-gourd : 'Pusa Summer Prolific Long', 'Pusa Summer Prolific Round', 'Pusa Meghdut' and 'Pusa Manjari'
Bitter-gourd : 'Pusa Domousmi', 'Kalianpur Baramasi', 'Coimbatore White Long', etc.
Sponge-gourd : 'Pusa Chikni'
Ridge-gourd : 'Pusa Nasdhar', 'Satputia'
Summer squash : 'Early Yellow Prolific', 'Australian Green', 'Butternut', etc.
Winter squash : 'Arkha Suryamukhi'
Tinda : 'Arka Tinda'
CULTIVATION. The culturalreqs of all the commercially important crops in this group are more or less similar. Cucumber, bottle-gourd, bitter-gourd, pumpkin, sponge-gourd and ridge-gourd can be grown in summer as well as in the rainy season, whereas, musk-melon, water-melon, squashes and tinda grow better only in summer. Winter squash grows well under mild climatic conditions. There are two methods of sowing. Ridges are prepared at proper spacing and after adding manure, a number of seeds are sown on each ridge. In the other method, furrows are made and seeds are sown on the edge either on one or both sides. The spacing from row to row, unless staked, varies from 1-1/2 to 3 m, according to the crop. The distance from plant to plant is kept at 60-90 cm. Approximately 2.5 to 3 kg of seed is required for sowing a hectare of cucumber, musk-melons and water-melon, 4 to 5 kg of seed of bottle-gourd, sponge-gourd and ridge-gourd, and 7 to 8 kg of seed of pumpkin and squashes. The summer crop is sown from January to March and the rainy-season crop in June-July. In the hills, they are sown in April. About 30 tonnes of farmyard manure are added to the soil at the time of preparing the land. For a good yield, 80 kg of nitrogen in two doses and 50 kg each of phosphorus and potassium per hectare should be applied. The average yields per hectare are : bitter-gourd and squashes, 6,000 to 8,000 kg; cucumber and musk-melon, 8,000 to 10,000 kg; water-melon and bottle-gourd, 15,000 to 20,000 kg, and pumpkin, 20,000 to 25,000 kg.
The cucurbits are also grown on the river-beds during summer. Special techniques are followed to get an early crop on the sandy banks of the rivers.
Cucurbitaceous crop are attacked by a number of diseases, of which powdery mildew, downey mildew, Fusarium wilt and virus diseases are of economic importance. Powdery and downey mildews can be controlled by spraying the crop with Karathane or Morestan, or by growing resistant varieties. Red pumpkin beetle and fruit fly are the most important insect pests. Dusting with 1% Lindane or a mixture of BHC and DDT control the beetle, but DDT should be dusted with caution, as it may damage the young bit leaves.
Sweet potato. The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Poir.) is a very important crop in the tropical regions of India. The chief uses of sweet-potato are for human consumption and for the manufacture of starch and alcohol. It contains about 16 per cent starch and about 4 per cent sugar. It belongs to the family Convolvulaceae.
VARIETIES. 'Pusa Suffaid', 'Pusa Lal', 'Pusa Sunheri', 'SP-3', 'SP-9', 'Ranger', 'Bhadrakali', 'Hosur Red', 'Gold Rush', 'Centennial', etc.
CULTIVATION. Sweet-potato requires a long and warm growing season. It does not stand frost. A moderate proportion of sand in the top soil, with a fairly retentive subsoil, provides ideal condition for its growth. It is grown from sprouts produced from its tuber-like roots and from vine cuttings. In well-prepared nursery-beds, the selected roots are planted 30 cm apart in rows which are spaced 45 cm. The sprouts are cut and planted for further growth in a second nursery. Ultimately, the cuttings from this nursery are planted at about 60 cm from row to row and 30 cm within the row. About 40 to 50 thousand cuttings are required to plant one hectare. In northern India, the cuttings are planted during June-July and in central and southern India during October-November. In some parts, both kharif and rabi crops are grown. A mixture of about 60 kg each of nitrogen and phosphorus and 120 kg of potash per hectare may be applied to obtain good yield. Both flat beds and ridges are used in various parts from 10 to 15 thousand kg per hectare. Red-skinned roots generally store better than white-skinned ones.
The commonest diseases is stem-rot which is spread through soil or diseased roots or vines. The best method of conteolling the diseases is to use diseases-free planting material, and resistant varieties and follow a long crop rotation. Sweet-potato weevil and leaf-eating caterpillars are the most damaging insect pests. The control measures consist in planting roots and cuttings free from weevils and dipping the cuttings before planting into a DDT solution or a mixture of 500 g of lead arsenate in 50 liters of water and spraying the crop with lead arsenate at fortnightly intervals.
Okra or bhindi The okra(Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench), belongs to the family Malvaceae. It is cultivated throughout India for its immature fruits. Its varieties are : 'Pusa Sawani', 'Pusa Makhmali', 'Perkin's Long Green' (for hills only), etc.
CULTIVATION
Bhindi plant prefers a long warm season. The plant is tender and cannot tolerate cold at any stage of growth. Low temperature true in the early spring results in poor germination of seed. Bhindi seed does not germinate at 200C or below. The best germination takes place between 240C nad 300C.
Soil and Soil Preparation
Bhindi can be grown on all kinds of soil except light sandy soil. Well-drained loamy soil rich in organic matter is, however, preferred. Presence of sufficient amount of organic matter improves the nutrient status, soil structure and water holding capacity. Operations for the preparations of land for bhindi sowing would depend upon the condition of the plot. If the plot was under crop which left behind stubbles and the organic material, it has to be ploughed or disced before cultivator is used. In such land normally the disc should be used twice and the tiller three or four times. Two to three plankings would give the desirable structure of the soil. However, if the land was under a crop as potato, one disc operation followed by 3-4 times cultivation would produce the desirable condition of the soil. However, the land has to be planked at least twice before the final sowing is taken up. Sowing is done by two methods :
1. Sowing on ridge
2. Flat sowing
1. Sowing on Ridges
This method is particularly important for the early crop sown in february. the field is divided into plots and within each ridges are made 45 cm apart. If possible these should be made running East-West. Seeds are dibbled 1 cm below the soil surface keeping a distance of 15 cm between hills. seed is dibbled on the top of the ridge or slightly on the side facing the sun. This is very important for early crop, as the side facing the sun attains a temperature several degrees haigher than that on the other side. This high temperature affects the seed germination favourably. Ridge sowing for early crop has another advantage. Seeds take many days to germinate and often an irrigation is required to keep up the right moisture content in the soil. In this case pre-emergence irrigation does not lead to crust formation as water is not allowed to run over the ridges.
2. Flat Sowing
This method is used for the later crop when the days are quite warm. Sowing is done in rows 45 cm apart, which have been previously drilled with fertilizers. Single row cotton drill can also be used efficiently for flat sowing. This method is quite popular with bhindi seed growers. The advantage of this method over ridge sowing is that it is less labour consuming. Bhindi seed has a hard seed coat. In order to get good germination it is always advisable to soak the seed overnight before sowing. For early crop the soaked seeds may be kept covered at some warm place for sometime so that germination initiates there and slightly sprouted seeds can then be planted in the field.
