Bottle Gourd Farming Info:-
Bottle gourd is one of
the popular vegetable crops cultivated in south East Asia. This vegetable is
extensively grown in India and fruits are available throughout the year. Bottle
gourd plant is a vigorous, annual and climbing vine with large leaves and a
lush appearance. Bottle gourd usually comes to harvesting in 3 months and its
flowers are solitary, chalky white in colour and open at night. Bottle gourd
fruits are fleshy and vary in shape and size. The name "bottle gourd"
is due to its bottle like shape. Bottle gourd belongs to the family of
"Cucurbitaceae" and genus of "Lagenaria". Bottle gourd is
also known as "calabash" and “lauki”. Bottle gourd is originated from
tropical Africa and spread across the world. Bottle gourd vegetables at early
(tender) stage are used in cooking’s for preparing various dishes. Mature
fruits are used as water jugs, domestic utensils, floats for fishing nets. The
big advantage of this crop is, bottle gourd will start flowering 2 months after
sowing. Though, this crop is cultivated under rainfed conditions, one can plan
for multiple crops throughout the year provided there is enough irrigation
facility. Bottle gourd leaves also have some good medicinal properties and a
decoction made out of leaf is used for curing jaundice. One can get decent
profits from commercial cultivation of bottle gourd with proper crop management
practices. To read more : Click here.
