Altered sex expression by plant growth regulators: An overview in medicinal vegetable bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

Bitter gourd is one of the popular vegetables for its medicinal values. It is monoecious cucurbitaceous plants which have imbalance sex ratio of male-female flowers that causes lower fruit yield. Different research works on cucurbits like bitter gourd and other related crops in respect of plant growth regulators, plant nutrients, and priming practices have been conducted in different parts of the world. Literatures related to the present study have been reviewed and found that bitter gourd genotypes produced larger male-female ratio and the induction of male flower was earlier than that of female ones. Growth regulators have significant positive effect on yield and yield components. Application of gibberellic acid (GA3) enhanced the length of main vine, but decreased the primary branches while ethylene producing chemicals Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) increased the number of primary branches per plant. Application of auxin like 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) at 50 and 100 ppm and CEPA at 150 ppm also proved to be effective in inducing earlier female flowers at lower node. Application of CEPA at 150 ppm and NAA at 50 ppm was found to be the best treatments for reducing sex ratio by increasing the female flowers by suppressing the male ones, and consequently induce higher yield. Key words: Bitter gourd, sex ratio, medicinal plant, yields.