Snapmelon (Cucumis melo var. momordica Duth. and Full) is an important member of the family Cucurbitaceae, with a chromosome no. 24, which comprises of 117 genera and 825 species in warmer parts of the world (Gopalakrishnan.,2007). Snapmelon is commonly known as ‘Phoot’ which means to ‘split’. The dessert form of Cucumis melo L. is a distinct group distributed and adapted well essentially under humid tropics of South India. Snapmelon is a locally grown dessert melon in Goa and coastal Maharashtra known as ‘Chibud’, in areas of Karnataka as ‘Hibadihannu’ or ‘Phoottikai’ and in Kerala it is known as ‘Pottuvellari’. Yet in northern India large scale cultivation of ‘phoot’ is confined to the states of UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar. In arid area like Bikaner from Rajasthan nearly 28.70 % farmers out of 37.75% vegetable growers grow snap melon as a sole crop in kharif and rabi season as well.( Meena., S.R. et al., 2009) The use of snapmelon is extremely diverse, depending on the type of fruit. Sweet types are consumed as dessert, while non-sweet types are used as vegetableThey are good sources of vitamin C, sugars, minerals and dietary fibre. The fruit of snapmelon contains 3% carbohydrate, 0.3% protein, 0.1 % fat, 95.7 % moisture, 265 IU Vitamin A 100g-1 and 10mg Vitamin C 100g-1 (Peter and Hazra, 2012). Seed contains 12.5 to 39.1 % edible oil. Besides nuitritional factor vegetable is used as a medicine in treating burns , abrasions and coolness of the body. India being centre of origin, snapmelon has accumulated wide range of genetic variability with respect to the fruits are size small to large, rough and smooth, either oval or cylindrical in shape with a mealy, somewhat insipid or slightly sour flesh which burst on maturity. The productivity and quality are highly variable and sometimes results in low economic returns to the growers. Fruit cracking, low shelf life and lack of transportation & storage facilities are being the most common constraints.

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University of
Horticulture
Sciences
Bagalkot.
KRC College of
Horticulture,
Arabhavi
Name- Shiwangi Paidarker
I.D. No.- UHS17PGM875

2. 118 genera 825 species
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3. • Rigveda has mentioned about cucumber.
• Yajuraveda talks about bottle gourd and its cooking
• Various cucurbits like watermelon, cucumber,
bittergourd have been mentioned in Puranas.
• Kautilya arthashstra says about the cucurbit
cultivation between rows of vetivera on riversides.
• Diara cultivation was also practiced during mugharl
period with different cucurbits.
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4. They are consumed in various forms i.e., salad (cucumber, gherkins, long
melon), sweet (ash gourd, pointed gourd), pickles (gherkins), and deserts
(melons).
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5. Melon group alone is having wide genetic variability. Many of them
have their origin as India.
It is rich in its feral and cultivated forms which comprises nearly 40
species (Whitaker and Davis, 2008).
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6. SOME IMPORTANT MELONS CULTIVATED WORLD WIDE
(MUNGER ET AL,1991)
Cantaloupensis(netted
melons)
Inodorous(honey dew,
casaba melon)
chito group(small
yellow lemon) Dudain group
Conomon Flexuousus
momordica
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7. SNAPMELON
Introduction
Area and production
Botany
Varieties
Soil and climate
Sowing and seed rate
Irrigation and intercultural
operations
Manure and fertiliser
Harvesting
Yield
Post harvest management
Diseases and pest
Research findings
Future of the cropvsc department
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8. INTRODUCTION
Common name- Snapmelon
Scientific name- Cucumis melo var. momordica
Family- Cucurbitaceae
Chromosome no. – 24
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9. 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).
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10. `
Nutritional
composition
Carbohydrate
3%
Protein
0.3%
Fat
0.1%
Moisture
95.7%
Vitamin A
265IU/100
gm
Vitamin C
10mg/100
gm
Edible oil
12.5-
39.1%
Tss
4֯ brix
Acidity
3.5-6.8%
Hazra and Peter, 2012vsc department
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11. 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.
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12. AREA AND
PRODUTION
Chibud
Hibadihannu or
phuttuhannu
Pottuvellari
Phut
Minor cucurbit- 5.6
% of total vegetable
production.
In arid area like
Bikaner from
Rajasthan nearly
28.70 % farmers
out of 37.75%
vegetable growers
grow snapmelon as
a sole crop in kharif
and rabi season as
well.(S.R. Meena et
al, 2009)
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13. 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.(Pandey et al. 2009;2011)
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14. BOTANY
Annual
climber
(1.5m in
length)
soft,
woody
stem
Tap root
system
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Leaves are
simple or
somewhat
palmately lobed,
arranged
alternately.
Flowers solitary
and monoecius
Fruits
Small/ oblong/
Cylindrical
15X10cm
700gm

15. VARIETIES
• Home and kitchen
garden
• 46-48 days duration
• Fruits oblong
• creamy white to light
pink flesh
• Yeild- 385q/ha
Pusa Shandar(2006)
• 900gm wieght
• 20x10cm in size
• Whitish pink flesh
• Sweet in taste(tss-
4.5-5%)
• 68 days duration
• Yeild-200-220q/ha
AHS 10 (1971)
• 900-950gm wieght
• 22.5cm long
• Light pink, sweet.
• 67-70 days
duration
• Yeild-225-248q/ha
AHS 82 (1971)
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16. • Less sweet in taste
• Yeild-106.52q/ha
Shantiniketan SM-1
• Mass selection
• 15-31t/ha
• Less cracking
• Light orange pulp
• 3-4 days keeping
quality
• Kharif season
Konkan Madhur
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17. Climate
and
Soil
Tropical, subtropical and semi arid crop
Cannot tolerate frost or low temperature
Seed germination – 18 to 25°c
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 loam
Sensitive to acidic soil
pH-6.5-7.5
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18. SOWING
Goa, Konkan areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka : June- July
Rajasthan and West Bengal : January to March
Kerala, Tamilnadu : Feb- May
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19. SEED RATE AND PLANTING METHOD
Seed rate: 2-3kg/ha
Planting method- ridges or flat beds
Ridge and furrow- 2.5m distance, furrow width-40-45cm,
depth-15-20cm
Seeds are sown at a distance of 75-100cm
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
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20. NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENT
Well decomposed FYM- 20-25t/ha
Nitrogen- 40kg/ha
N is applied as a basal dose and at the flowering time.
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21. IRRIGATION
In 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%
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22. INTERCULTURAL OPERATIONS
In Initial stage of growth weeding should be frequently
done.
Hoeing- good soil environment for root development and
keeping down weeds
Later, vines themselves supress the weed growth
Pre-plant application of fluchloraline- 1.2kg/ha
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.
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23. HARVESTING
Early varieties- 45-50 days
Generally becomes ready 80-90 days
For vegetable and salad purpose- light green to dark green
immature fruits
For table purpose- half to fully ripe
Maturity indices
Ꝋ An abscission layer is fully developed
Ꝋ Fruit is easily separated from the peduncle
Ꝋ Colour changes to pale yellow- orange
Ꝋ Fruit burst (phoot)
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24. YEILD
• Fruit yeild-150-200q/ha
• Seed yeild- 1-3q/ha
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25. 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. However, the fruits can be stored for 2-3 weeks.
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26. Traditionally it is being utilised for making ‘rasayna’.
Ripe fruits are utilised for making squash, syrup,
icecreams and candies.
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27. Three Acidity level
S-1 : 0.8 percent
S-2 : 1.0 percent
S-3 : 1.2 percent
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28. DISEASES
Powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum)
Downey mildew (Pseudopernospora cubensis)
Angular leaf spot (Pseudomonas lachrymans)
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29. 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.
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30. • 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 medium resistant to fusarium wilt.
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31. 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.
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32. PESTS
Leaf minor (Liriomyca spp.)
Fruit fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae)
Red pumpkin beetle (Aulacophora foviecollis)
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33. 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.
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34. • Pandit M.K. studied effect of date of sowing on flowering and
incidence and damage of melon fruit fly in 8 genotypes in 2004-
2005.
• S1 = 25 November 2004
• S2 = 25 January 2005
• S3 = 25 March 2005
Result
• Fruit fly infestation was higher in March sowing.
• BCSM-4 was affected least when sown in Jan- march
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35. FUTURE SCOPE
Early yield to the farmers.
Post harvest management study.
Improving shelf life.
Survey for still higher ascorbic acid.
Can be used for improvement of other cucurbits.
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36. THANK YOU
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