Ivy gourd (Coccina indica Wight and Arn) which belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae, is the most important vegetable and medicinal plant, distributed in Tropical Asia, Africa, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka [1,2]. It is a climber and trailer [3]. The fruit of Coccinia indica is used as vegetable when it is green in colour and eaten fresh when ripened into bright scarlet color. The young leaves and shoot tips of ivy gourd are used in Asia for cooking purpose [4]. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts from the plant have shown hypoglycaemic principles [5,6]. Every part of this plant is valuable in medicine and various preparations which have been mentioned in indigenous system of medicine for skin diseases, bronchial catarrh, and bronchitis and unani systems of medicine [7]. The plant also showed hypoglycemic activities [8,9,10].

There are about 120 genera and 825 species in this family. Members of the Cucurbitaceae are commonly known as gourds or cucurbits and include some important crop species such as Cucumber, Squash, Pumpkin, Luffa and Melons [11]. Most of the plants in this family are annual vines but there are also woody vines, thorny shrubs and trees [12]. Ivy gourd contains vitamin 'A', β-carotene and is a good source of protein. The phytochemical screening of the 50% methanolic extract obtained from whole parts of ivy gourd [13] revealed the presence of carbohydrates, glycosides, oil and fats, proteins, amino acids, saponins, tannins, phytosterol, alkaloids, phenolic compounds gum, mucilage and flavonoids. Application of fungicides formed a new tissue, which has protected the expanding tissue and prevented the fruit infection. A single application of the fungicide reduced the postharvest decay up to 25-50% [14]. The present investigation was made to evaluate the biochemical changes observed in Ivy Gourd due to infected fruit rot caused by C. indica.

Total 15 isolates of Alternaria pluriseptata were isolated from infected part of Coccinia indica fruits and maintained on Czapek Dox agar medium (CZA). Alternaria pluriseptata isolates were tested against carbendazim fungicide by food poisoning test [15]. Carbendazim sensitive (Ap₁₁) and resistant (Ap₁₃), isolates were tested for biochemical analysis. This was studied by inoculating C. indica fruits with spore suspension of resistant and sensitive isolates. A deep well (13mm) was prepared for spore suspension with the help of cork borer (8mm). After inoculation for 8 days, fruits were dried at 40°C in hot air oven and powder was obtained after crushing in grinder. The samples were extracted in ethanol and were analyzed for all the biochemical estimations [16]. Altogether 16 parameters were considered for analysis viz, Nitrogen [17], Crude protein [18], sugars and total sugars [19], Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) [20], Phenols [21] and Ascorbic acids [22].

Fifteen isolates of Alternaria pluriseptata were tested against carbendazim fungicide. The sensitivity (MIC) of carbendazim resistant (Ap₁₃) showed 5000 μg/ml while sensitive (Ap₁₁) showed 2900 μg/ml. The sensitivity ranged from 2900 to 5000 μg/ml (Table 1). Biochemical analysis determined from fruits of Ivy gourd are shown in (Table 2). It was noted that the content of all parameters in the pathogen varied in sensitive and resistant strains. It was seen that total sugars were reduced in infected fruit of C.indica when compared with healthy ones.

Table 1: Sensitivity (MIC) of carbendazim against Alternaria pluriseptata isolates.

Table 2: Estimation of biochemical analysis of healthy and infected fruit of Ivy gourd.

Total sugars in the fruit infected with sensitive and resistant isolates were variable. Among them total sugar (35.4 mg/g) was increased in healthy fruits, but reduced to sensitive (25.48 mg/g) and resistant (28.00 mg/g). But in case of Polyphenol it was decreased (17.401 mg/100gm) in healthy however, increased to sensitive (11.142 mg/100g) and resistant (12.24 mg/100g) followed by starch. In case of crude protein, Nitrogen, DNA, RNA, and Calcium were decreased due to infection of both isolates. There was slight increase in Polyphenols in fruit inocu-lated with resistant and sensitive isolates in the healthy fruit. In case of Phosphorus and Calcium, it was reduced in infected fruit.

There are reports supporting the characteristic of resistant isolates. There was increase in production of amino acids in the isolate of Macrophomina phaseolina resistant to captan and carbendazim [23]. Reduction in DNA content due to infection of resistant Puccinia arachidis on groundnut [24,25], total sugars, total amino acids, crude proteins, and DNA and RNA contents increase in their quantity due to infection by both the isolates of fruit rot of grapes [26]. Biochemical changes in pomegranate fruit infected with carbendazim resistant of Alternaria alternata showed more loss of reducing and non-reducing sugar as compared to healthy one [27]. Total sugars were reduced in infected leaves of spinach when compared with healthy one [28]. The infected bananas showed a decrease in the quantity of total soluble sugar, protein, ash, ascorbic acid and mineral elements when compared with the control of fruit [29]. Total phenols increased in fruits infected by Pestalotiopsis versicolor and Rhizopus arrhizus while reverse was observed in fruits infected by other pathogens [30]. Similarly, the investigation carried out and revealed less content of ascorbic acid, total sugar and capsaicin in fruits heavily infected due to dieback [31]. Biochemical changes were observed from the infected fruit of Cucumis sativus and there was reduction Nitrogen, Protein, ascorbic acid and DNA and RNA due to the infection of fruit rot disease [32].

Exposure on consumption of these spoiled fruits may be responsible for serious health hazards. The nutritional value of fruits chiefly depends on the quality and quantity of nutritive substances. Various fungi cause rots in fruit of ivy gourd. Post-harvest losses of fruits are very high and diverse post infection; biochemical changes reduce their food and market value considerably. Results of study showed that fungal infection brought about nutritional changes in fruits. This was more pronounced due to utilization by fungal pathogen for their growth and metabolism and causes deterioration of the nutritious of the fruits.