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Yield of mono-cropped cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is reduced by root knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita Kofoid and White). Use of resistant rootstocks in grafting may overcome the problem. Cucurbitaceous species were screened against root knot nematode to evaluate their use as rootstocks in grafting. Inoculation was with nematodes @ 2 J2·g-1 (J2 = second stage juvenile) of soil in pot culture at the 1 to 2 true leaf stage, 45 days after inoculation, plants were uprooted and observations made to calculate Root Knot Nematode Index (RKI). Cucurbita moschata, Cucumis metuliferus, Citrullus colocynthis and Cucumis callosus were resistant having a RKI-2. Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucumis melo sub sp. agrestis were moderately resistant with a RKI-3. Total phenols content in roots indicates plant resistance to M. incognita. Cucumis metuliferus had the highest mean total phenols content (16.98 mg·g- 1 of root) followed by Citrullus colocynthis (16.08 mg·g-1 of root) and Cucurbita moschata (15.37mg·g-1 of root). Resistant rootstocks possessed higher peroxidase and PPO activity than susceptible ones. Cucumis metuliferus had the highest value of peroxidase and PPO activity (3.83 OD·min-1·g-1 of root and 3.67 OD·min-1·g-1 of root) followed by Citrullus colocynthis (3.26 and 3.63 OD·min-1·g-1 of root), Cucumis callosus (3.02 and 2.98 OD·min-1·g-1 of root) and Cucurbita moschata (2.93 and 2.94 OD·min-1·g-1 of root). Cucumber scions, ‘Green Long’ and ‘NS 408’ had lower peroxidase and PPO activity of 0.64 and 1.42 OD·min-1·g-1 and 0.57 and 1.31 OD·min- 1·g-1 of root, respectively. Resistant and moderately resistant cucurbitaceous species may be used for further studies possibly leading to improved yield.

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In a full diallel analysis ten parents of bitter gourd were used to study the inheritance of yield, yield contributing characters and quality characters. Data from the ten parents and their resultant 90 hybrids were analyzed. The estimates of

A field experiment was conducted during June-October (2017) at Horticultural Research Station, Kodaikanal to study the response of butter beans for different combinations of nitrogen and phosphorus on growth, yield and quality characters. A randomized block design was followed with 17 combinations of N (30, 40, 50 and 60 kg/ha), P (37.5, 50, 62.5 and 75 kg/ha) and additional combination of 70: 75:50 kg N P 2 O 5 K 2 O/ha. K 50 kg/ha was kept constant. The experimental results revealed that all the fertilizer treatments significantly increased the plant height, number of branches per plant, days to 50 % flowering, number of pods per cluster, 100 seed weight, pod weight, pod yield per hectare, protein content and crude fibre content of butter beans. Maximum plant height (220.33 cm), number of branches per plant (4.79), minimum days to 50 % flowering (50) and 100 seed weight were recorded in the combination of 50 kg N, 37.5 kg P 2 O 5 and 50 kg K 2 O per hectare. Number of pods per cluster (6.78), pod weight (14.00 g) and pod yield per hectare (5.85 t) were maximum in the combination of 60 kg N, 75 kg P 2 O 5 and 50 kg K 2 O per hectare.