Morphological Characterization of Bitter Plant (Momordica charantia) Hybrid

¹ Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Science, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia
² Matahari Seed, Aditya Sentana Agro PT, Seed Production, Indonesia
³ Department of Agrotechnology, Merdeka University of Madiun, Jl. Serayu No.79, Madiun 63133, East Java, Indonesia ;
⁴ Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Peshawar, 23200 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) is a type of vegetable plant that has a variety of fruit surface patterns, commonly known as wax melts. The melt resembles fine bumps on the surface of the fruit that run along the length of the fruit. The aim of the research was to determine the unique and superior morphological characteristics of bitter melon fruit from 10 candidate varieties compared with six comparison varieties in terms of qualitative and quantitative properties. The research was conducted from October to December 2023 at an experimental field owned by PT. Aditya Sentana Agro. This research uses a descriptive observation method with qualitative and quantitative observations; the results of the observations are in the form of data displayed in tables. The variables observed include qualitative and quantitative variables; qualitative variables include fruit color, fruit shape, wax melt shape, stem color, and quantitative variables include fruit length, fruit diameter, weight per fruit, number of fruits per plant, and total fruit weight/plant. The results of the study showed that of the 10 candidate varieties, there were three candidate varieties that had advantages and uniqueness in both qualitative and quantitative properties.