Snap melon production technology

Snap melon ,a cucurbit

1. SNAP MELON

2. INTRODUCTION Common name- Snapmelon Scientific name- Cucumis melo var. momordica Family- Cucurbitaceae Chromosome no. - 24

3. USES Sweet types are consumed as dessert Non-sweet types are used as vegetable, i.e. the immature fruits are eaten raw, pickled or cooked. Some with odour are cultivated as ornamental plants also. Ripe fruits are used to make light drink or mixed with jaggery or sugar or sometimes rice flour is also added. Seed kernel is used in bakery products and a traditional drink (thandai).

4. MEDICINAL USES Cooling and intense cleaner. Act as a moisturiser. Treatment for burns and abrasions. Improve appetite and cure stomach pain. Help in relieving constipation and vomiting. The seeds are antitussive, digestive, febrifuge and vermifuge and roots are diuretic and emetic.

5. Great variability in terms of morphological characters, especially fruit size and shape, fruit cracking and peeling patterns, flesh colour, skin texture, and primary and secondary colour of fruit skin in 36 snap melon accesions.

6. SOME IMPROVED VARIETIES 1. Pusa Shandar (2006) Home and kitchen garden 46-48 days duration Fruits oblong. creamy white to light pink flesh Yeild- 385q/ha

7. AHS 10 (1971) Approx 900gm wieght 20x10cm in size. Whitish pink flesh. Sweet in taste(tss 4.5-5%) 68 days duration. Yeild-200-220q/ha

8. AHS 82 (1971) 900-950gm wieght 22.5cm long. Light pink, sweet. 67-70 days duration Yeild-225-248q/ha

9. Shantiniketan SM-1 Less sweet in taste Yeild-106.52q/ha

10. Konkan Madhur Mass selection. 15-31t/ha. Less cracking. Light orange pulp. 3-4 days keeping quality.

11. SOIL AND CLIMATE Tropical, subtropical and semi arid crop Cannot tolerate frost or low temperature Seed germination - 18 to 25% Successfully grown in 15-32°c Short day, low temperature leads to femaleness. High temperature leads to male flower and flower drop. Sandy loam or loamy soil is suited for cultivation. Sensitive to acidic soil pH-6.5-7.5

12. SOWING Goa, Konkan areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka : June-July Rajasthan and West Bengal : January to March Kerala, Tamilnadu: Feb- May

13. SEED RATE AND PLANTING METHOD Seed rate: 2-3kg/ha Planting method- 1. Ridge method. Ridge and furrow- 2.5m distance, furrow width-40-45cm, depth-15-20cm Seeds are sown at a distance of 75-100cm 2. Flat bed method - shallow pits of 30cm length,30cm width and 30cm depth at a distance of 150cm between rows and 75-100cm between plants. Sowing depth-1.5-2cm

14. NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENT Well decomposed FYM-20-25t/ha Nitrogen- 40kg/ha N is applied as a basal dose and at the flowering time.

15. IRRIGATIONIn Rainfed irrigation , no need of water supply In semi-arid areas irrigation interval is 5-7 days. Drip irrigation is successful in many cucurbits. *In CIAH, Bikaner, use of drip and micro-sprinkler system increase fruit yield by 25-30%

16. Mulching Reduces evaporation Delays drying of soil Checks weed population Increases microbial activity Mulching with locally available dry hays improved the quality of fruit yield by 58% over control in cultivar AHS 82.

17. Maturity indices An abscission layer is fully developed Fruit is easily separated from the peduncle Colour changes to pale yellow- orange Fruit burst (phoot)

18. YIELD Fruit yield - 150-200q/ha Seed yield – 1-3q/ha.

19. POST HARVEST MANAGMENT Storage Snap melon fruits are perishable and can be stored for 2-4 days at room temperature In cold store at 2-4C and 85-90% RH , the fruits can be stored for 2-3 weeks.

20. Traditionally it is being utilised for making 'rasayna’. Ripe fruits are utilised for making squash, syrup, icecreams and candies.

21. Major diseases Powdery mildew ( Erysiphe cichoracearum ) Downey mildew ( Pseudopernospora cubensis ) Angular leaf spot ( Pseudomonas lachrymans )

22. INTEGRATED DISEASE MANAGEMENT Seed treatment with Captan/Thiam (0.2%) or trichoderma harzianum @5g/kg of seeds. Foliar application Mancozeb (0.2%) @ 10 days interval gor downey mildew. Foliar application of Dinocap(0.1%) or wettable sulphur at 15 days interval for powdery mildew. Proper drainage, crop rotation are important.

23. Rajamony et. al. (1987) reported that snapmelon is resistant to CGMMV. R. S. Pan and T.A. More(1993) did the screening of melon germplasm for multiple disease resistance for Powdery mildew, Downy mildew, Fusarium wilt, CGMMV RESULT- Snap melon was highly resistant to DM, resistant to CGMMV and moderately resistant to fusarium wilt.

24. BREEDING FOR DISEASE RESISTANCE Currently used varieties of muskmelon resistant to Powdery mildew owe their origin to snapmelon accession PI 79376 from Gujarat. PI124111 From Kolkata is known fro resistance against powdery and downy mildew (Thomas et. al., 1988) PMR45 first PM resistant variety of cantaloupe released in USA in 1934 was bred by using Indian snapmelon. Dhillon et al, 2007 identified many accessions of anpmelon resistant against PM, DM, CGMMV etc.

25. PESTS Leaf minor ( Liriomyca spp. ) Fruit fly ( Bactrocera cucurbitae ) Red pumpkin beetle ( Aulacophora foviecollis )

26. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT Destroy cotyledonous leaves 10 days after germination. Clip leaves infested with leaf minor upto 20 days after sowing. Mechanical collection of red pumpkin beetle. Spraying neem formulation with azardirachtin (2ml/l) or NSKE 4%. Neem soap 5gm For fruit fly control, crushed pumpkin 1kg + 100gm jaggery+10ml malathion is useful. Erect cuelure traps @ 25traps /ha. Collect and destroy all infested fruits by burning or brying deep into the soil.

27. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229742329_Reaction_of_Muskmelon_Collections_to_Cucumber_Green_Mottle_Mosaic_Virus https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=85Uw-_cAAAAJ&citation_for_view=85Uw-_cAAAAJ:sNmaIFBj_lkC