Sex Tendency of Earlier Branches As An Index of Overall Sex Status of Lagenaria Leucantha

Lagenaria leucantha is a spreading type and unlike cucumber, its tendency cannot be correlated with the number of node on which the first pistillate flower appears. The flowering is spread over a comparatively longer period of growth which is all the more cumbersome in recording voluminous flowering data to ascertain the sex ratio of the plants.

Investigations through four experiments revealed that there was a positive highly significant correlation (V ranging from 0.4758 to 0.6222) between the sex ratio of first three lateral branches (B₁) and the overall sex ratio of the plant. This trend was maintained by plants treated with various asafoetida and other sex regulant treatments. The plant which had a higher overall pistillate tendency, showed greater pistillate-staminate ratio of B₁ branches. Data from the next three lateral branches (B₂) also gave almost similar results. However, a close view revealed that data of first three branches was more reliable. Much time can be saved by following this new technique.