Seed Production of Vegetable, Tuber and Spice Crops

Method of seed production

• Snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina L) is also called as Chicinda.
Varieties

• CO 1, CO 2, MDU 1, PKM 1 and APAU Swetha



Figure 1. Snake gourd plant

Season

• June - July; December - January
Pre-sowing seed treatment

• Pre germination of seeds by soaking in double the volume of water for 4 hours enhances the seed germination.
Seed rate

• 1.5 kg /ha.
Spacing

• Pit of size 45 x 45 x 45 cm at 2.5 x 2.0 m spacing is optimum
Manuring

• Application of 10 kg FYM and 100 g of 6:12:12 NPK mixture per pit as basal and 10 g N/pit at 30 days after sowing is generally recommended.
Foliar application

• Maleic hydrazide @ 400 ppm at 2 leaves stage and 5 leaves stage enhances the seed yield and quality or application of ethrel @ 100 to 200 ppm at weekly intervals from 4 th leaf stage for four times increases the female flower production.
  
• During the course of fruit development apply urea @ 12 kg / ha, super phosphate 4 kg /ha, potash 2 kg /ha and micronutrients 400 g/ha.
Irrigation and weeding

• Basin is irrigated before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once in a week the pits are irrigated.
  
• Hoeing and weeding thrice is essential.
Main field maintenance

• Each plant has to be provided with stacking 20-25 days after sowing for training the vines over the pandal.
  
• Training operation has to be carried out daily until the fruiting stage.
  
• Pandal is not essential for all varieties (eg. MDU 1, CO 2)
Roguing

• During vegetative, fruit formation and fruit harvest phases, roguing is attempted based on plant characters like height of plant, leaf shape, size, surface of leaf and fruit characteristics like length of fruit, size, shape and colour.
Plant protection
Pests
Leaf beetles, and leaf caterpillars

• Spray malathion 50 EC 1 ml/lit or dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit or methyl demeton 25 EC 1 ml/lit or fenthion 100 EC 1 ml/lit will prevent the pest incidence.
  
• Avoid copper and sulphur dust since these chemicals cause injury to the plants.
Diseases
Powdery mildew

• Spray Dinocap 1 ml/lit or Carbendazim 0.5 g/lit.
Downy mildew

• Spray Mancozeb or Chlorothalonil 2 g/lit twice at 10 days interval.
Harvest

• Fruits can be harvested at visible yellow to orange skin initiation stage.
Seed extraction

• Manually the immature seeds can be removed as water floaters during wet extraction. After drying the seeds the immature and small sized seeds should be removed as air blown rejects. 16/64" round perforated or BSS 4 x 4 (6.2 mm) sieve may be used
Storage

• Seeds dried to 7 to 8 % moisture content and dry dressed with thiram / captan 75% wettable powder or halogen mixture @ 3 g / kg of seeds, can be stored in cloth bag up to 10 months and over 18 months in moisture vapour proof containers.