Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida Cogn.)
Cucurbitaceae

Varieties
CO 1, CO 2, TNAU Ash Gourd Hybrid CO 1

	TNAU ASH GOURD HYBRID CO 1: It is a F1 hybrid between PAG 3 x CO 2. Plants are medium viny. Fruits are oblong and medium sized (4-5kg) in a duration of 120-130 days and suitable for small families. High yielding with an average yield of (91.82 t/ha		TNAU Ashgourd Hybrid CO1
	CO.2 (1982) Selection from Coimbatore local Fruits are small ,oblong  in shape each weighing 2-4 kg in a crop duration of 120-130 days. It has an yield potential of  34 tonnes/ha		CO.1 (1971): It is a Fruits are large,oblong oval in shape each weighing 8-10kg in a crop duration of 140-150 days. selection from local type of Tamil Nadu.It has an yield potential of  20 - 25 tonnes/ha

Soil
A deep loamy soil with pH range of 6.5-7.5 is suitable.

Season
Planting is done during July and January.

Seed rate
Varieties : 2.5 kg/ha.
Hybrids : 1.50 kg /ha.

Seed treatment
Soak the seeds in double the quantity of water for 30 minutes and incubate for 6 days. The seeds are treated with Trichoderma viride 4 g or Pseudomonas fluroscens 10 g or Carbendazim 2 g/kg of seeds before sowing.

Preparation of field
Plough the field 3 – 4 times. Dig pits of 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm at a spacing 2 x 1.5 m and form basins.

Sowing
Five to six seeds are sown in each pit. After germination, the seedlings are thinned to two/ pit.

Fruit yield
Varieties : 30 – 35 t/ha
Hybrids : 80-90 t/ha

Irrigation
Irrigate the basin before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once in a week.

Application of fertilizers
Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria @ 2 kg/ha and Pseudomonas @ 2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake @ 100 kg before last ploughing. Apply 10 kg FYM and 100 g of 6:12:12 NPK mixture/pit as basal and 10 g N/ pit at 30 days after sowing.

After cultivation
Hoeing and weeding can be done as and when necessary. Spray Ethrel 250 ppm (2.5 ml/10 lit of water) four times at weekly intervals commencing from 15th day after sowing.

Quality seedling production:

Nursery raising
In hi-tech horticulture, use 12 days old healthy seedlings obtained from shade net houses for planting. Raise the seedlings in protrays having 98 cells. Use well decomposed cocopeat is used as medium. Sow one seed per cell. Water regularly twice a day. Transplant about 12 days old seedlings in the main field

Fertigation
Apply 60:30:30 kg of NPK/ha throughout the cropping period through split application. 75% of phosphorus, is applied through superphosphate as basal dose.

Fertigation Schedule- Ash gourd (Hybrid)
Recommended Dose: 200:100:100 kg/ha

*75% RD of Phosphorus applied as superphosphate = 469 Kg/ha.
1. 19:19:19 = 53 kg/ha
2. 13:0:45 = 199kg/ha
3. 12:61:0 = 25 kg/ha
4. Urea = 351 kg/ha

Plant protection
Pests
Leaf beetles and leaf caterpillars
Leaf beetles and leaf caterpillars can be controlled by spraying Malathion 50 EC 1 ml/lit or Dimethoate 30 EC 1 ml/lit or Methyl demeton 25 EC 1 ml/lit.

Fruit fly
1. Collect the affected fruits and destroy them.
2. The fly population is low in hot day conditions and it is peak in rainy season. Hence adjust the sowing time accordingly.
3. Expose the pupae by ploughing.
4. Use polythene bags, fish meal trap with 5 g of wet fish meal and 1 g of Dichlorvos in cotton, 50 traps are required per hectare. Fish meal and Dichlorvos impregnated cotton are to be renewed once in 20 and 7 days respectively.
5.Neem oil @ 3.0 % as need based foliar spray.
6.Aphid: Spray Imidacloprid @ 0.5 ml/lit along with sufficient quantity of stickers like Teepol, triton X100, apsa etc., for better adhesion and coverage.

Aphid: Spray Imidachloprid @ 0.5 ml/lit along with sufficient quantity of stickers like Teepol, triton X100, apsa etc., for better adhesion and coverage.

Do not use DDT, copper and sulphur dust, as these are phytotoxic.