The document summarizes a seminar presentation on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) and its genetic improvement. Key points include: - Bitter gourd is a vine grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit. Varieties differ in fruit shape and bitterness. - The seminar will cover the plant's botany, pollination, breeding objectives like early fruiting and disease resistance, breeding techniques like hybridization and polyploidy, and improved varieties developed in India. - Bitter gourd has various health benefits like lowering blood sugar as it contains compounds that increase glucose uptake in cells. It is also a good source of vitamins and

1. Department of Vegetable Science
N.D. University of Agriculture &
Technology
Kumarganj, Faizabad-224229

2. DEPARTMENT OF VEGETABLE SCIENCE
COLLEGE OF HORTICLTURE & FORESTRY
NARENDRA DEVA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICLTURE &TECHNOLOGY
KUMARGANJ, FAIZABAD-224229
I.D. No. - HF-6341/11
Date - 22/12/2012
Time - 03:00 PM
COURSE SEMINAR
On
Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) and its Genetic Improvement
by
SAURABH KASERA

3.  Introduction
 Nutritive Value
 Health benefits of bitter gourd
 Uses of bitter gourd
 Plant botany
 Floral biology (pollination)
 Breeding objectives
 Breeding techniques
 Improved Varieties
 Future prospects
 Conclusion.

4. Bitter Gourd (Bitter Melon, Karela)
 Bitter gourd is growing its popularity world wide. The reason
for this is its potential to reduce the blood sugar levels. It is an
herb that is very much helpful not only in maintaining the
normal levels of sugar in the body but is also helpful in
maintaining the normal functioning of the body.
 Momordica charantia often called bitter melon, bitter gourd,
bitter squash & balsam pear in English, has many other local
names like Fu Kwa in China, Peria in Malaysia, Kiuri in Japan.
It is known as karavella in Sanskrit and commonly known as
karela in India and locally known as karla in Marathi,
paakal-kaai in Tamil etc.
 This is a plant of the tropics. Bitter melon originated in India,
and it was carried to China in the 14th century. The regions of
eastern India and southern China are suggested as possible
centres of domestication.

5.  The diploid chromosome number of bitter gourd is 2n=2x=22.
 The crop is highly cross pollinated due to monoecy.
 It is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family
Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the
Caribbean for its edible fruit, which is among the most
bitter in all fruits. Its many varieties differ substantially in
the shape and bitterness of the fruit. Alkaloid
momordicine (momordicosides-glycosides of tetracyclic
triterpinoids) imparts bitter taste to fruits.
 It is a tendril vine that grows to 4 to 5 meters. The
leaves are alternate and are parted by 3 to 8 lobes.
Each plant bears separate yellow male and female
flowers. The fruit is oblong in appearance and green in
color. The skin is rough and is of barrel shape. In the
fruit, seeds are present that are 15 to 25 in number.

7. The fruit is used as vegetable as
well as it can be used as a
medicine for diabetics and
vermifuge. Nutritional composition
(values are per 100g of edible
portion is given below) -

8. Nutrient composition of bitter gourd
(Momordica charantia L.) fruit
Nutrients Quantity
Energy 25 calorie
Moisture 92.40 g
Carbohydrates 10.60 g
Proteins 2.10 g
Fiber 1.70 g
Calcium 23.00 mg
Phosphorus 70.00 mg
Potassium 171.00 mg
Sodium 2.40 mg
Iron 2.00 mg
Copper 0.19 mg
Zinc 0.46 mg
b Carotene 126.00 mg
Vitamin C 96.00 mg
Source: Tables of Food
Composition. Medical Research
Institute, Colombo

9. Health benefits of Bitter
gourd
 Bitter gourd is very low in calories, providing just 25 calories per
100g. Nevertheless, its fruits are rich in phytonutrients like
dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants.
 Bitter gourd has two times the beta carotene of broccoli, two
times the calcium of spinach, two times the potassium of
bananas. It is thought to be good for the hepatic conditions and
has been proven by scientists to contain insulin, act as an anti-
tumor agent, and inhibit HIV-1 infection.
 Bitter gourd notably contains phyto-nutrient, polypeptide-P; a
plant insulin known for lowering blood sugar levels. In addition, it
composes hypoglycemic agent called charantin. Charantin
increases glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in the cells of
liver, muscle and adipose tissue. Together, these compounds are
thought to be responsible for reduction of blood sugar levels.

10.  Fresh fruits are an excellent source of folates, contain about 72
µg/100g. Folate helps reduce the incidence of neural tube defects
in the newborns when taken by mothers during early pregnancy.
 Fresh bitter gourd is an excellent source of vitamin-C (100 g of
raw fruits provides 96 mg). Vitamin-C, one of the powerful natural
antioxidants, helps the body scavenge deleterious free radicals
one of the reasons for cancer development.
 It is an excellent source of health benefiting flavonoids such as ß-
carotene, α-carotene, lutein, and zea-xanthin. It also contains a
good amount of vitamin A. Together; these compounds help act
as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals
and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging,
cancers and various diseases processes.
 In addition, the vegetable is an also good source of niacin
(vitamin B-3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5), pyridoxine (vitamin
B-6) and minerals such as iron, zinc, potassium, manganese and
magnesium.

11. Uses of Bitter gourd
1. The green fruits are used as vegetable
after cooking in many ways as fried,
stuffed, dried and pickles.
2. As a digestive aid. Because of its
bitterness, it helps to stimulate digestion. It
is thus a good treatment for dyspepsia and
constipation.
3. Juice is an antidote for alcoholism.
4. Fresh juice of leaves useful in early stages
of cholera.
5. Effective against eczema and psoriasis.
6. People suffering from piles can use the
fresh juice or apply a paste of bitter melon
roots over the piles.

12. Plant Botany
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Subdivision: Angiosperms
Class: Dicotyledonae
Order: Cucurbitales
Family: Cucurbitaceae
Subfamily: Cucurbitoideae
Tribe: Jolliffieae
Genus: Momordica
Species: M. charantia
Species
 Related species: M. dioica Roxb. ex Wild., M. Tuberosa (Roxb.) Cogn., M.
balsamina L., M. cochinchinensis and M. cabriei.
 Wild species: M. subangulata Bl., M. denudata and M. macrophylla.

13. Indian bitter gourd is classified into two
botanical varieties based on fruit size, shape, color,
and surface texture. M. charantia var. charantia has
large fusiform fruits, which do not taper at both
ends, M. charantia var. muricata (Wild), which
develops small and round fruits with tubercles,
more or less tapering at each end (Chakravarty
1990). Both varieties are widely cultivated
throughout tropical and subtropical regions of India.
Bitter gourd is a fast-growing, trailing or climbing
vine with thin stems and tendrils and requires trellis
to support the climbing vine. This herbaceous,
tendril-bearing vine grows to 5 m. It bears simple,
alternate leaves 4–12 cm across, with three to
seven deeply separated lobes. Each plant bears
separate yellow male and female flowers.

14. Flowers are unisexual, large, showy and yellow.
Staminate flowers are small, yellow and borne on long
slender pedicels. The pistillate flowers are solitary, have
small pedicel and are easily distinguishable by oblong to
long distinct green colour ovary.
Yellow flowers of about 3 cm diameter. The flowers
open just for one day. The plant has separate male and
female flowers.
Calyx contains 5 sepals alternating with corolla lobes.
Corolla is 5 lobed, bright yellow; staminate flowers are
produced mostly in long pedicels and are borne singly.
Ovary is inferior, is 3 to 5 carpelled, usually three, style is
short and thick.

15. Male
Flower
Female Flower

16. Pollination
The pollen grains reaching on the stigma of a
flower. In other words, when the pollen lands onto
stigma of a flower.
Anthesis and dehiscence occur early in the
morning. Anthers dehisce about two hours before
blooming. Therefore selfing and crossing should be
attempted in forenoon preferably in early hours.
Anthesis starts by 4 AM and gets completed by 9AM.
Anther dehiscence starts by 5 AM and completes by
7:30 AM. There is a varietal difference for the time of
anthesis and anther dehiscence. Stigma is receptive
24 hr before to 24 hr after anthesis (Deshpande et
al., 1979).
Pollination is by bees. Pollen fertility is maximum
at anther dehiscence.

17. Selfing & Crossing Technique in Bitter gourd:-
The bitter gourd is a monoicous plant: the
male and female flowers are on the same plant
but in different places. The bitter gourd can be
self-pollinated: a female flower can be fertilized
by pollen coming from a male flower of the
same plant.
However, cross-pollinations are predominant: a
female flower is fertilised by pollen coming
from different plants of the same variety or of a
different variety. The insects are the vectors of
these cross-pollinations. To ensure the varietal
purity, the advised distance between 2
varieties of bitter gourd is from 400 meters to
one kilometer.

19.  Breeding for Early fruiting
 Breeding to get High female to male sex ratio
 Breeding for Less ridged fruit surface
 Breeding for Thick fruits particularly suitable for
stuffing
 Breeding for Fruit size variation as per consumer’s
preference (small- 7.5–10 cm long, medium long– 10-
15 cm, long– 15-20 cm and extra long– 20-40 cm)
 Breeding for Immature seeds for longer period during
green edible stage
 Breeding for High yield
 Breeding for Resistance to red pumpkin beetle,
epilachana beetle, fruit fly and mosaic virus.

20. Variability in bitter gourd
fruits
NDBT-8
Pusa Vishesh
NDBT-6
NDBT-62
NDBT-23

21. In India little attention has been paid for the genetic
improvement of bitter gourd. The morphological
characterization and assessment of the variability
parameters are meager.
Several methods usually are employed in tandem to
accomplish breeding objectives. Single plant selection,
mass selection, pedigree selection, and bulk population
improvement are common methods used for bitter gourd
enhancement. Pedigree selection typically is used after
crossing two parents for the development of inbred lines
with high, early yield borne on a unique plant habit, and
with high-quality fruit [i.e., processing quality, high vitamin
C and A, and disease resistance].

22. Selection Method
Single plant selection and mass
selection methods have been followed to
develop high-yielding bitter gourd lines in
India (Narsinghani et al., 1986). Pusa do
mausami, Preethi, Priyanka, Konkan Tara,
Arka Harit, CO1 and Pusa Vishesh have
been developed through single plant
selection and selfing.

23. Hybridization
 The mating or crossing of two dissimilar plants or lines is known as
hybridization. In plants crossing is done by placing pollen grains
from one line or genotype, called the male parent on to the stigma
of flowers of the other genotype, referred to as the female parent.
 The seeds as well as the progeny resulting from hybridization are
known as hybrid or F1 & it’s advance generations are called
segregating generations. It consists of following breeding
methods, given below:
A. Bulk method B. Pedigree method
Bulk method: In bulk method, F2 or the subsequent
generations are harvested in mass to raise the next generation. At
the end of bulking period, individual plants are selected &
evaluated in F8 generations & superior progenies released as a
new cultivar. The method is also termed as mass or population
method.

24.  Pedigree breeding is a method of genetic improvement of cross
pollinated species in which superior genotypes are selected from
segregating generations & proper record of ancestry of selected
plants are maintained in each generation.
 It is generally used when both the parents that are used in the
hybridization have good agronomic traits or well adapted.
 It is more commonly used for the improvement of polygenic
traits.
 In this, individual plant are selected in F2 for raising for F2
families of each selection, and from F3 onward selected is made
between and within families. The selection continues until. F6 or
F7 generation, when almost all families become homogenous
 The genetic constitution of the variety developed by this method
is homozygous & homogeneous, because it is progeny of single
homozygote.

25. Heterosis is the superiority of an F1 hybrid over
both its parents in terms of yield or some other
character. Heterosis is manifested as an increase in
vigor, size, growth rate and yield.
A bitter gourd is a cross-pollinated crop, exploitation
of heterosis (hybrid vigor) is an important aspect of its
improvement. Heterosis in bitter gourd was investigated
at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi,
as early as 1943. Heterosic effect is likely attributable to
earliness, first node to bare fruit (first pistillate flowering
node), and total increased fruit number (Celine and
Sirohi 1998). Several hybrids developed by private and
public sectors breeding efforts are cultivated in Asia,
including China and India.

26. Polyploidy breeding
Wanjari and Phadnis (1971) induced
tetraploidy by colchicine treatment.
Autotetraploids had a fewer female
flowers, larger flowers and petals and
flowered later than diploides. Trivedi and
Roy (1973) studied cytogenetics of M.
charantia and of polyploids.

27. The diverse morphological characters such as sex
expression, growth habit, maturity, and fruit shape, size, color,
and surface texture of M. charantia in India provide for relatively
broad phenotypic species variation.
The genome size of M. charantia is 2.05 pg per haploid
nucleus, which is similar to tomato (Ingle at al. 1975). The few
genes of Momordica that have been isolated include MAP 30,
trypsin inhibitor, chitinase, and napin, and a seed storage
protein (Vashishta et al. 2006). MAP30 (30 kDa Momordico
protein) was isolated and cloned to evaluate its antitumor
property and inhibition HIV-1 infection and replication (Lee at al,
1995). More recently, napin and chitinase, which impart
fungal resistance, were cloned from bitter gourd plants
(Vashishta et al. 2006).

28. In vitro regeneration of M. dioica and M.
grosvenori has met with only a modicum of success.
Nevertheless, regeneration from cotyledons is
unpredictable but is more practical than
regeneration from either internodes or shoot tip
explants. In vitro shoot multiplication of bitter gourd
has been achieved and is now suggested for in vitro
production of secondary metabolites (Agarwal and
Kamal 2004).

29. The genetic improvement of crop plants for various
economic traits through the use of induced mutation
(mutation that are induced by the treatment of mutagenic
agents viz.; gamma rays, 5 B.U., E.M.S., etc. ) is referred
to as mutation breeding.
One such bitter gourd cultivar, MDU 1, developed
as a result of gamma radiation (seed treatment) of the
landrace cultivar MC 103, was found to possess improved
yield (Rajasekharan and Shaninugavelu 1984).
Likewise, the white bitter gourd mutant Pusa Do
Mausami' (whitefruited type) was developed through
spontaneous mutation from the natural population Pusa Do
Mausmi' (green-fruited type) at the Indian Agriculture
Research Institute.

30. Patel et al. (1967) identified a variety
of M. charantia resistant to Epilachana
septima. Its leaves contained some
compounds which inhibited larval
development or lacked in some nutrient
components essential for development
grubs. Khaire et al. (1987) reported BG
98 and BG 102 resistant to pumpkin
beetle.

31. Improved varieties developed by agriculture institution
Varieties Parentage Institution
Pusa Vishesh Selection IARI, New Delhi
Pusa Do Mausami Selection from local
germplasm at IARI
IARI, New Delhi
Arka Harit Selection from local materials
0f Rajasthan
IIHR, Bangalore
Kalyanpur Barahmasi Selection CSAUAT, Kalyanpur, Kanpur
Kalyanpur Sona Selection CSAUAT, Kalyanpur, Kanpur
Pant Karela 1 Selection from inbreds of
indigenous germplasm
GBPUAT, Pantnagar
Phule Green Pedigree Method
(Green Long × Delhi Local)
MPKV, Rahuri
Narendra Barahmasi Selection from local materials
at NDUAT
NDUAT, Kumarganj, Faizabad
Coimbatore Green Selection TNAU, Coimbatore

32. F1 Hybrids in Bitter Gourd
F1 Hybrid Special Feature Authored By
Panipat local × Ambala
local
High Yield Pal and Singh (1946)
B 15 × J 21 High Yield Khole (1972)
Green Local × White
Local
High Yield Lal et al. (1976)
PDM × S 144,
Coimbatore long × S 63
High Yield Sirohi and Chaudhari
(1976)
MDU 1 × VK 1 Priya Higher Yield Gopalakrishnan (1986)

33. Very little attention was given to improve
quality and productivity of this crop.
Breeding for self-staked varieties, also
high-yielding and early-bearing ones, are a
few of the objectives in bitter gourd
improvement. There is a great scope to
exploit heterosis in the crop. Viral diseases
inflict heavy yield losses in the crop, for
which resistant sources are not reported
within the species, hence biotechnological
approaches have to be resorted to for
evolving resistant types.

34. Bitter gourd is an important vegetable crop of
several countries in the tropics. Due to unavailability of
improved cultivars, most of the species has been the
result of selection within landraces by farmers in local
habitats. However, over the last two decades, increasing
emphasis has been placed on more systematic bitter
gourd improvement strategies in India.
Future breeding and genetic emphases in bitter
gourd improvement should be placed on the
development of nutritious, high-yielding cultivars with
superior resistance to major diseases and exceptional
fruit quality for both domestic and foreign markets.
These efforts should focus on breeding for season and
regional adaptation.