Abstract
Bitter gourd has importance as vegetable and medicinal plant as well. Because of the fast ripening process long distance transportation is difficult and therefore local production should be developed. Protocols for bitter gourd cultivation in greenhouses in temperate regions are missing. The aim was to investigate the potential of typical cultivation systems in greenhouse as the substrate culture for bitter gourd production. Therefore four genotypes of bitter gourd were cultivated for 6 months in rockwool (Cultilene Exact) and cocopeat (coir) slabs (Dutch Plantin) differing in its chemical and physical properties as water capacity and pore volume. All substrates were irrigated by trickle irrigation. The vegetative development of the plants was recorded weekly and the harvest was evaluated according yield and fruit quality. Shoot growth and leaf number per shoot was not affected by the substrate used. The yield was in average approximately 20% higher on rockwool than on cocopeat mainly due to a higher number of fruits harvested but the fruits on rockwool were also longer than on cocopeat. Regarding the quality in the fruits grown on cocopeat a higher mineral content, in particular K, P and Mg, was determined. In both substrates significant differences between the genotypes of bitter gourd were detected.
Published Version
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