Effect of harvest stages and ripening duration on fruit yield, and quality of bottle gourd

The physiological maturity is a key determinant of seed yield in cucurbit crops; however, the combined influence of harvest timing and post-harvest ripening duration on seed development in bottle gourd remains inadequately studied. A two-year experiment was conducted using a Factorial Randomized Complete Block with three harvest stages (40, 50 and 60 days after anthesis) and three post-harvest ripening durations (20, 30 and 40 days) on fruit and seed attributes of bottle gourd cv. Punjab Komal. Fruits harvested at 50 days after anthesis and ripened for 30 days (H2R2) recorded the highest fruit weight (2.54 kg), fruit length (30.55 cm), and diameter (10.97 cm), along with superior seed yield and quality traits – maximum filled seeds/fruit (372.69), seed yield/fruit (61.25 g), germination (98.05%), and seedling length (33.44 cm). Early harvesting (40 days after anthesis) resulted in immature seeds with poor germination, while extended ripening beyond 30 days lead to a decline in seed vigor due to over-ripening and desiccation effects. Harvesting bottle gourd at 50 days after anthesis with 30 days ripening maximizes seed yield, germination, vigour, improving seed quality, storage potential, sustainability, industry.