Chow-chow (Sechium edule): best alternative to shifting cultivation in Mizoram

Citation: Singh BK, Ramakrishna Y and Verma VK. 2015. Chow-chow (Sechium edule): best alternative to shifting cultivation in Mizoram. Indian journal of Hill Farming 28(2): 158-161

E-mail: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

Abstract        

            Chow-chow (Sechium edule, iskut in Mizo dialect) is a boon crop of Mizoram and has potential for improving the socio-economic status of the tribal community. It is one of the most popular vegetables grown for its fruits, tender shoots, young leaves and the tuberized roots. Low calorific value of fruits makes it suitable for hospital diets/ baby foods and could also supplement to potatoes for diabetic patients. The vines climbs by clinging with tenacious tendrils, flowers are monoecious, fruits are mostly solitary, pear shaped, single seeded, viviparous with fairly bland taste of potato and cucumber. Mostly it is being cultivated on hilly terrain and the vines are trained over bower system, and even the hills having >100 % slope, where no cultivation is possible, is also under chow-chow cultivation. A flagship programme on commercialization of chow-chow cultivation in Mizoram will not only be an alternative to shifting cultivation; but also help in sustaining the farmers’ livelihood, reducing the runoff and soil erosion, and conserving the natural resources.

Keyword: Chow-chow (Sechium edule), shifting cultivation, cucurbitaceae, iskut, Mizoram

References:

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Genetic combining ability for yield and other economic traits in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Citation: Prasad V, Dwivedi VK, Deshpande AA and Singh BK. 2015. Genetic combining ability for yield and other economic traits in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.). Vegetable Science 42(2): 25-29.

Email: bksinghkushinagar@yahoo.co.in

Abstract: 

An 8 × 8 half diallel set of crosses were made to identify promising genotypes and crosses and to suggest suitable breeding approaches for increasing simultaneous yield and consumers’ preference traits in brinjal. The estimates of GCA effects indicated that the parents, namely Black beauty, Pusa Purple Long, Pusa Purple Round and Surati Ravaiya excelled for eleven, nine, nine and eight economic traits, respectively. Desirable SCA effects for yield of marketable fruits per plant were observed in eleven crosses (Pusa Purple Long × Black Beauty, Manjary Gota × Surati Ravaiya, BB-44 × Surati Ravaiya, Green Long × Black Beauty, Black Beauty × Surati Ravaiya, Pusa Purple Long × Green Long, Gulabi Long × Pusa Purple Round, Gulabi Long × Black Beauty, Pusa Purple Long × Gulabi Long, Pusa Purple Long × Pusa Purple Round, Gulabi Long × Surati Ravaiya). However, six cross combinations (Black Beauty × Surati Ravaiya, Pusa Purple Long × Black Beauty, Gulabi Long × Surati Ravaiya, Pusa Purple Long × Green Long, BB-44 × Black Beauty and Pusa Purple Long × Gulabi Long) were found to be best for fruit yield. These crosses have at least one of the parents as good general combiner and could be exploited through heterosis breeding, and hybridization followed by selection breeding approaches.

Keywords: GCA, SCA, diallel analysis, eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), quantitative traits

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