Screening of bottle gourd germplasms for resistance against powdery mildew under hot arid region of Rajasthan

Abstract

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Stand.) is a commonly grown vegetable throughout India. It is also grown in Africa, Central America, Ethiopia and other warmer regions of the world. It is suitable for cultivation in dry areas. As a vegetable, it is easily digestible, even by patients. It is affected by many fungal diseases, of which powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases that quantitative and qualitative losses to the crop. The symptoms appear as small floury patches first on the lower surface followed by upper surface of the leaves. The cheapest, practical and economical control of the disease can be achieved by the genetic stock resistant to the disease. Powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases in the production of bottle gourd. A field trial was carried out to screen 17 bottle gourd germplasms against powdery mildew at this Institute. Out of them, none was found immune as well as resistant against powdery mildew. Four varieties such as Pusa Naveen, Pusa Santushti, Pusa Sandesh, Arka Bahar and two germplasms (Sriganganagar Local and IC-567538) showed moderately resistant, 10 germplasms were categorized as moderately susceptible and 01 germplasm namely PN-22 proved susceptible against this disease.