Grafted bitter gourd by East-West Seed

GRAFTED BITTER GOURD Agronomic Practice to Increase Yield

Success in Grafted Bitter gourd In the aftermath of two strong typhoons, Mr. Robert Azonsa’s grafted Mestisa, which they referred as “resurrected bittergourd,” defied the odds by rising from the ruins left by the storms. Mr. Robert has already uprooted half of the plant population after the storm, but another farmer and friend advised to spare the remaining half and see what will happen.

Despite their initial reluctance to invest further, the grafted plants not only recovered but thrived, yielding an impressive harvest which was marketed at high price since most of the neighboring fields did not survive the typhoons. During our visit, they emphasized the advantage of grafted Mestisa, highlighting its resilience and high yield, especially during the wet season, making it a valuable choice for farmers even in challenging conditions.

Photo taken during our visit in Gapan, Nueva Ecija while Mr. Robert’s family and workers were ecstatically sorting and packing their harvest that day.

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Success in Grafted Bitter gourd Mr. Elmer Mateo in Gapan, Nueva Ecija has been actively engaged in cultivating grafted bitter gourd since 2019 primarily due to the prevalence of bacterial wilt in his fields. He has already obtained an impressive harvest of nineteen tons of bitter gourd from a modest 700 plants of grafted Mestisa in 12 harvest periods. He realized nearly a tenfold return on his initial investment. Despite this notable success, he remains keen on furthering his knowledge on effective management practices for grafted bitter gourd cultivation.

Photo taken during our visit at Kuya Elmer Mateo’s grafted bitter gourd field in Gapan, Nueva Ecija. The Breeding, Plant Pathology/Entomology, and Product Development Support team were accompanied by partners from Farm Ready.

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Success in Grafted Bitter gourd Visit to Kuya Lando Guevarra, a 38-year-old bittergourd farmer from Tilapayong, Baliuag, Bulacan.

Kuya Lando began growing bitter gourd ten years ago and recently tried growing grafted Mestisa.

He is very grateful that his grafted plants were able to withstand the damage of typhoons. Right now, from planting to harvesting to market distribution, farming has become their family business.

Kuya Lando was able to buy a Montero vehicle and send their three children to a private school thru farming, thanks to his years of hard work and tenacity

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Choosing the rootstocks: Grafted bitter gourd is where technique in grafting is implemented by joining 2 different crops designated as rootstock and scion. Rootstock is usually a crop which has better resistance to different soil-borne pathogens and the scions are usually the high yielding crops. In practice, rootstocks are crops which have been bred to be resistant to different soil-borne pathogens.

It also helps to improve plant vigor and boost yield by longer harvesting period and tolerance to abiotic stress, good for intercropping and consecutive planting at the same area offering farmers more benefits in different circumstances.

In East-West Seed, we have now tested and identified graft combinations using a highly resistant and good quality rootstock with a high yielding scion variety of bitter gourd. Grafting in bitter gourd is already a practice in some countries using the EWS bittergourd including the Philippines and Thailand.

Grafted seedlings

Grafted seedlings ready to be transplant to the field

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Do grafted plants have higher yield without soil borne disease pressure?

Grafting with resistant rootstock can prevent bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt and root knot nematode problems affecting bittergourd. Planting grafted bitter gourd in a non-diseased area can still increase the yield by 30% or more compared when using the non-grafted. The increase can be observed more starting on the 5th to 6th pickings until the extended harvesting when the area is not infested with insect pests and foliar diseases. Continuous cropping of bitter gourds can be done with grafted plants that can withstand the presence of these soil-borne diseases.

Non-grafted

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Grafted

Agronomic practices of grafted bitter gourd for higher yield Using grafted seedlings can reduce planting density to one third compared to non-grafted seedlings.

We recommend preparing the bed with the following spacing for the cultivation of grafted bitter gourd.

This spacing can accommodate 1,666 to 2,222 plants per hectare.

Description

Spacing

Remarks

Bed size

0.5 meter

Space between beds

3 meters

Space between hills or plants

1.5 - 2 meter

Non grafted 0.5-1 meter

Canal beside the bed

0.25 meter

Ensure to include canal to reduce water logging the beds

A. Non Grafted (0.5 meter between plants)

Single row

B. Grafted (1.5 meters between plants) 7

Important Factors to Consider When Growing the Grafted Grafting Union above ground:

Removal of side shoots:

Graft union should not touch the ground

Growing side shoots from the rootstocks

since this could be an entry point for soil-borne

must be removed immediately to avoid

pathogens, especially in disease-infected areas.

nutrient competition with the scion.

With and without side shoots from the rootstock

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General Cultivation practices for grafted bittergourd Grafted Bitter gourd cultivation practices

Grafted Seedling

0-14 DBT*

0-30 DAT**

31-45 DAT

- Seed sowing in seedling tray with sterilized soil media

Transplanting / Vegetative Stage - Transplant in the afternoon and irrigate the field

- Hardened the seedlings from 12-14 days after sowing

- Drench seedling with Calcium nitrate

- Prepare the field at 1 meter between plant x 3 meter between bed spacing

- Establish trellis

- Mulch the bed

- Apply pesticides if necessary

Field Preparation

- Vine train the seedlings

46-80 DAT Flowering - Continue fertilization and application of pesticides if necessary - Apply Potassium (K) - Remove the old leaves by pruning to reduce incidence of diseases - Apply foliar fertilizer - Apply yellow sticky trap to reduce the insect pest - Pollinate the female flowers to ensure fruit development

80-120 DAT Fruiting Stage

- Maintain fertilization to support fruit development - Regularly irrigate the field

Important disease and pest in bitter gourd

Fruit Maturation - Harvest the fruits at the right maturity to maximize the storage capacity - Maintain the fertilization and irrigation practice

*DBT - days before transplanting **DAT - days after transplanting

For more information about the insect pests and diseases of bitter gourd you can visit: https://www.plantdoctor.eastwestseed.com https://growhow.eastwestseed.com/crop-guide-template/bitter-gourd For more information about rootstock variety in EWS you can visit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AAWyelQU9AjbOhXgpU9BPMYLqjlW--nu/view?usp=sharing 9