Division of Vegetable Crops, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
*Present address: Sr. Scientist-cum-Assoc. Professor, Deypartment of Horticulture (Vegetable and Floriculture), Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour (Bhagalpur)-813210.
Studies on sex-expression and sex-ratio in cucumber, watermelon and bottle gourd were carried out. It was observed that Ethrel at 50 and 100 ppm induced the first pistillate flower earlier and at lower nodes both in cucumber and bottle gourd, whereas, in watermelon, it delayed the appearance of female flowers as compared to the control. Boron 2 ppm proved to be the best for early induction of female flowers in watermelon Ethrel 50 ppm, Ethrel 100 ppm and boron 2 ppm produced the lowest sex ratio in cucumber, bottle gourd and watermelon, respectively. It is evident that the action of sex modifying chemicals differs in the genus citrullus from Cucumis and Legenaria
