Corresponding author: Ornella K Sangma

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1 Occurrence of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. (Apolka) in Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India Ornella K Sangma 1, Arindam Barman 2, Chinky M Marak 3 and Cheana S Sangma 4 1 PG Scholar, Department of Horticulture, North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, India 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Horticulture, North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, India 3 JRF, Department of Horticulture, North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, India 4 PG Scholar, Department of Horticulture, North-Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya, India Corresponding author: Ornella K Sangma Abstract Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. (Apolka) occurs widely in all the parts of Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Twenty (20) germplasm lines of Apolka were collected from different parts of Garo Hills of Meghalaya. All twenty (20) germplasms were characterized based on eight (8) qualitative and three (3) quantitative traits. The accession GC 4 had the maximum fruit length, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. Considering the importance of this crop in livelihood of local population the aim of this paper is to provide information on occurrence and variation among various qualitative and quantitative traits of Apolka found in Garo Hills of Meghalaya. Keywords: Apolka, Gymnopetalum cochinchinense, Garo Hills, Meghalaya, Qualitative trait, Quantitative trait. I. INTRODUCTION Meghalaya is blessed with unique flora and is considered to be the home of many vegetables which remain underutilized. The state of Meghalaya consists of three hills viz. the Khasi Hills, the Jaintia Hills and the Garo Hills. All these three hills have distict agro-climatic conditions. The proposed research was conducted in the Garo Hills region of Meghalaya, India. The Garo Hills lies between 25º 9 and 26º 1 North latitudes covering an area of 81,689 sq km. The Garo Hills of Meghalaya is further divided into 5 districts. The Garo Hills region of Meghalaya are rich in diversity of different cucurbits (Cucurbita sp., Sechium sp., Lagenaria sp., Benincasa sp. etc) and a lot of variability is found among the different cultivars and unknown lines of these crops. Cucurbits are most nutritive and widely spread in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India [3]. Different cucurbits found in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya have significant diversity with respect to morphological traits of plants, fruit shape, fresh colour etc and also in terms of flowering and fruiting, yield etc. The geo climatic situation of Meghalaya offers an ideal scope for cultivating different types of horticultural crops. Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. is one of the underutilized vegetable which occurs widely in Garo Hills of Meghalaya and belongs to the family cucurbitaceae. In Garo Hills of Meghalaya it is locally known as Apolka and is a popular vegetable crop among the local people. The immature fruits are edible and bitter in taste. Apolka is maintained by the local growers or farmers of Meghalaya unscientifically and very less scientific literature is available with regard to proper evaluation or characterization or documentation of these lines from this region and hence by carrying out the systematic study on qualitative and quantitative traits of diferent germplasm lines of this crop found in different districts of Garo Hills of Meghalaya will enable us to understand scientifically more on this All rights Reserved Page 211

2 II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A survey was conducted in various parts of Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India to explore the occurrence of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. (Apolka). After the survey, twenty (20) germplasm lines of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. (Apolka) were collected from different districts of Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India. Each germplasm lines were assigned an accession number (Table. 1). The collected germplasms were characterized based on the NBPGR (National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India) descriptors. Various qualitative traits taken under study were fruit skin colour, fruit shape, fruit surface, fruit skin lustre, blossom end fruit shape, bitterness, seediness and seed lustre and various quantitative traits taken under study were fruit length, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. Table 1. Collection of Apolka Germplasms from Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India SL GERMPLASM PLACE SL GERMPLASM PLACE NO. ACCESSION NO. NO. ACCESSION NO. 1. GC 1 Adokgre 11. GC 11 Garobada 2. GC 2 Amindagre 12. GC 12 Jengjal 3. GC 3 Ampanggre 13. GC 13 Melim 4. GC 4 Anogre 14. GC 14 Okapara 5. GC 5 Bismagre 15. GC 15 Rongram 6. GC 6 Boldamgre 16. GC 16 Selsella 7. GC 7 Danakgre 17. GC 17 Songsak 8. GC 8 Darichikgre 18. GC 18 Tebronggre 9. GC 9 Dengasi 19. GC 19 Wakagre 10. GC 10 Dengnakpara 20. GC 20 Williamnagar III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. (Apolka) is widely distributed in North Eastern part of India, China, Phillipines, Bangladesh and Malaysia [2]. From the study it was found that the Apolka plants are trailing in nature, dioecious in sex form and have tendrils. The plant have hairy stems, leaves are 4-5cm long and reniform, flowers are white in colour, fruits are green to dark green, elliptical, ribbed and bitter in taste. Seeds are small and brownish black in clour. A similar report is also available for Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. germplams from Bangladesh [1]. SL No. Table 2. Quantitative traits of twenty (20) germplasm lines of Apolka GERMPLASM ACCESSION NO. LENGTH (cm) WEIGHT (g) NUMBER OF SEEDS PER 1. GC GC GC GC All rights Reserved Page 212

3 5. GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC GC A range of variation was observed among twenty (20) germplasm lines of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz for different quantitative traits like fruit length, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. Fruit length was found to be maximum in accession GC 4 (5.0 cm) followed by accession GC 3 (4.3 cm) and accession GC 15 (4.3 cm) and the least was observed in accession GC 18 (3.0 cm). Accession GC 4 (0.050 gram) had the maximum fruit weight and accession GC 10 (0.010 gram), GC 12 (0.010 gram) and GC 18 (0.010 gram) had the least fruit weight. The number of seeds per fruit was found to be maximum in accession GC 4 (30) and least in accession GC 16 (17). From the study it was found that the accession GC 4 had the maximum fruit length, fruit weight and number of seeds per fruit. Figure 1. Different Germplasm lines of Aploka GC All rights Reserved Page 213

4 GC 10 GC 12 GC 18 GC 4 (Plant) Table 3. Qualitative traits of twenty (20) germplasm lines of Apolka SL. NO GERMPLASM ACCESSION NO. SKIN COLOUR SHAPE SURFACE SKIN LUSTRE BLOSSOM END SHAPE BITTERNESS SEEDINESS SEED LUSTRE 1. GC 1 2. GC 2 3. GC 3 4. GC 4 5. GC 5 6. GC All rights Reserved Page 214

5 7. GC 7 8. GC 8 Smooth 9. GC 9 Smooth 10. GC GC GC GC 13 Smooth 14. GC 14 Smooth 15. GC GC GC GC GC GC 20 Among the different qualitative traits, fruit shape (elliptical), fruit skin lustre (intermediate), blossom end fruit shape (acute) and seed lustre (matt) showed similarity in all the twenty (20) germplasm lines of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. collected from different districts of Garo Hills, Meghalaya. Main variation with respect to the qualitative traits was found for the traits like fruit colour (dark green-green), fruit surface (ribbed-smooth), bitterness (strong-moderate) and seediness (medium-high) in all the twenty (20) germplasm lines of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz. IV. CONCLUSION The study revealed the occurrence of underutilized cucurbitaceous vegetable, Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz (Apolka) in different parts of Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India and the germplasm lines of Gymnopetalum cochinchinense (Lour.) Kurz (Apolka) of this region showed a range of variability based on various quantitative and qualitative traits. As it is an underutilized vegetable, no such conservation practices have been followed for this crop. Further study in this crop would help in conserving the gene pool and to explore its genetic and nutritional potential and also for its improvement. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] Shaikh (2012) http//.gymnopetalum%20cochinchinense%20 (Lour.) Kurz.html (Accessed on 01/02/2016). [2] De Wilde WJJO and Duyfjes BEE (2006) Review of the genus Gymnopetalum (cucurbitaceae) BLUMEA 51, DOI / X [3] Hore, D.K North East India- A hot-spot for agrodiversity. Summer school on agriculture for hills and mountain ecosystem, All rights Reserved Page 215