29 April 2024, Palampur: A new vegetable crop Gherkins has been successfully introduced in the State by Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University. Disclosing this here today, Dr D.K.Vatsa, Vice Chancellor told that Gherkin, scientifically known as Cucumis anguria L. is a warm season vegetable crop belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae in horticultural crop community. Being a short duration crop with high yield potential, it is mainly cultivated and consumed in Africa, Brazil, and United States and India.
The unripe fruits are used for processing as pickles, eaten as a cooked vegetable and are used in curries. The fruits of gherkin are consumed as boiled, fried, and fresh in salads. The gherkin is also known for traditional importance in medicinal to treat stomach ache, jaundice, haemorrhoids and preventing stone formation in kidney and its addition to diet can help in increasing intake of several nutrients like vitamin A, folate, calcium and iron. Dr Vatsa said that this is a new crop for the state and can help farmers to increase their farm income.He complimented Dr Parveen Sharma, Professor in the Department of Vegetable Crops and Floriculture for successfully growing and introducing this vegetable crop in hi-tech production unit. The unit was established under National Agricultural Higher Education project.
