The present investigation was carried out at College of Agriculture, Kolhapur during the Kharif 2016. The promising selections of bottle gourd made at MPKV, Rahuri were evaluated for their growth and yield performance under Kolhapur conditions which comes under sub montane zone of Maharashtra. The data revealed, that among different selection of bottle gourd, RHRBG – 19 had recorded minimum days required for germination (6.00 days), minimum days required for appearance of first male (36.33 days) and female flower (39.66 days) and minimum number of inter-node at which first male (4.00) and female flower (11.20) as compared with the remaining selections. The selection RHRBG – 19 also recorded the maximum number of female flowers (33.00), maximum fruit length (38.53 cm), highest diameter (7.62 cm) and average fruit weight (690.00 g) and minimum number of days required for 50 % flowering (42.66) as compared with the remaining selections under study. Similarly the selection RHRBG -19 recorded more number of fruits per vine (23.00), highest fruit yield/vine (15.87 kg) and per hectare (529.00 q) followed by RHRBG - 18 which recorded female flower (31.33), fruit length (35.73), diameter (7.24), average fruit weight (608.00 g), number of fruits per vine (22.20), fruit yield/vine (13.37) and per hectare (449.66 q). The elongated fruit shape was observed in the selections such as RHRBG -1, HRBG - 3, RHRBG -19, RHRBG -24, RHRBG -27, RHRBG – 30, RHRBG - 36 and the HRBG – 23 while the cylindrical fruit shape was observed in the remaining selections of bottle gourd such as RHRBG -18 and RHRBG -22. The deep green colour was observed in the selections such as RHRBG -1, RHRBG -3, RHRBG -18, RHRBG – 24 and RHRBG – 36 and pale green colour of bottle gourd fruits was observed in RHRBG -19 and RHRBG – 23, while the medium green colour was observed in selections RHRBG -22 and RHRBG -30. The medium pubescence were observed in the selections such as RHRBG – 1, RHRBG -3, RHRBG- 19, RHRBG -22, RHRBG- 23, RHRBG -24, RHRBG- 30 and RHRBG – 36 and dense pubescence were observed in the selections RHRBG – 18 and RHRBG -27 while the medium pubescence on the fruits was observed in remaining selections such as RHRBG -1, RHRBG -3, RHRBG -19, RHRBG -22, RHRBG -23, RHRBG -24, RHRBG -30 and RHRBG -36.

Download this article as