Tropical and subtropical vegetables (2+1)

Area and production

Ridge Gourd and Sponge Gourd
Botanical name : Ridge gourd: Luffa acutangula
                               Sponge gourd: Luffa cylindrica
Family : Cucurbitaceae
Chromosome number : 2n=26
Origin : Sub-tropical Asian (India)
Area and production
Both crops are commonly grown throughout India particularly in states like Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka , Gujarat etc.,. Ridge and sponge gourds are grown as mixed cropping in the river beds and as monocrop in the garden lands, hence the exact area and production are unknown. Nevertheless the estimated area under all the gourds is 4.05 lakh hectares in our country.