Selection of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.) Germplasm for Improvement Anti-diabetic Compound Contents

Abstract

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is an important vegetable crop of several countries in the tropics. Although bitter gourd fruits contain bioactive components with many important medicinal properties, it is usually grown as an ornamental in Korea. Bitter gourd has recently received growing attention due to its anti-diabetic compound in immature fruits. But there have been few researches on its cultural practices and functional components. This study was conducted to analyze charantin, anti-diabetic compound, contents among germplasm to select accessions with high charantin content in bitter gourd. The charantin content of bitter gourd fruits were investigated in 15 days after fruit setting among 31 accessions of bitter gourd by HPLC. The contents of charantin and yields ranged from 15.1 to 161.4 μg·g -1 dry-weight basis and 221 to 2,097 g by a plant, respectively. Five accessions, ‘K169998’, ‘K042800’, ‘K170002’, ‘Hwanock’ and ‘Nockwoo’ showed highest charantin contents as 143.7, 104.6, 103.5, 161.4, 101.1μg·g -1 , respectively. These results can be applied for selection methods to determine bitter gourd accessions with highest charantin content, which have a potential to be an anti-diabetic diet. Future breeding and genetic emphases in bitter gourd improvement should be placed on the development of nutritious, high-yielding cultivars with superior resistance to major diseases and exceptional fruit quality. This study can be used for preliminary data in stable, high quality bitter gourd production and selection. Further studies are needed to understand underlying mechanism determining charantin content variations in different fruit maturation stages in bitter gourd.