Sree Pallavi Arbi Seed — Sowing & Yield Guide

Quick facts

Crop: Arbi (Taro)
Type: Corm / cormel (vegetative)
Season: Kharif
Maturity period: 7 months (about 210 days)
Seed rate: About 1 tonne of cormels per hectare at 60 x 45 cm, or 1.5 to 2 tonnes at 45 x 30 cm. Best cormel size is 35 to 45 g (CTCRI taro bulletin).
Expected yield: 16 t/ha usual, 18 t/ha potential (CTCRI)
Suitable soil: Loam
Disease resistance: Field tolerant to leaf blight and mosaic
Release: Released in 1987 by ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Thiruvananthapuram, selected from a germplasm collection from Meghalaya

Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.

About this variety

Sree Pallavi is a taro (Colocasia esculenta) variety that ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), Thiruvananthapuram, selected from a germplasm collection made in Meghalaya and released in 1987. The plant is tall (1 to 1.5 m), erect and low in tillers. It makes a big conical mother corm and 20 to 25 small, club-shaped cormels, with brown skin and white flesh. It takes 7 months to mature. CTCRI's variety page gives 16 t/ha as the usual yield and 18 t/ha as the potential, and its taro bulletin gives 15 to 17 t/ha, 24.5% starch and 2.5% protein. Cooking quality is good. Its main point is disease: CTCRI lists it as field tolerant to taro leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae) and to Dasheen mosaic virus. Tolerant is not resistant, and the bulletin names other varieties as blight resistant.

Should you pick this variety?

Choose Sree Pallavi if both leaf blight and mosaic have hit your taro before. CTCRI records it as field tolerant to both. Tolerant does not mean safe. Blight costs 25 to 50% of the yield when it is not managed, and the bulletin's list of blight-resistant varieties names Muktakeshi, Bhu Sree and Bhu Kripa, not Pallavi. Do not choose it if your buyer wants a few big cormels. Pallavi gives 20 to 25 small club-shaped ones, and the average is 16 t/ha. If itching is your market's complaint, look at Sree Rashmi, which CTCRI calls non-acrid.

Sowing & cultivation

Sowing timeKerala: rainfed April to June, irrigated January to March (CTCRI taro bulletin).
Seed rateAbout 1 tonne of cormels per hectare at 60 x 45 cm, or 1.5 to 2 tonnes at 45 x 30 cm. Best cormel size is 35 to 45 g (CTCRI taro bulletin).
Spacing60 x 45 cm, cormels set 5 to 10 cm deep. Keep 3 healthy suckers per plant at the second earthing up.
FertilizerFor Kerala: 12 t/ha FYM and 80:25:100 kg/ha N:P2O5:K2O. All phosphorus at planting; 1/3 of the nitrogen and potash 2 weeks after sprouting and the rest in 2 equal doses a month apart (CTCRI).
Harvesting7 months. About 1 month before digging, wrap the suckers round the base, earth up and stop irrigation (CTCRI).

Full Arbi (Taro) growing guideSowing time, nutrients, irrigation, pests, costs and prices for Arbi (Taro) as a whole crop. This is the advice that holds for every variety.

Soil & climate

Soil

pH: 5.5–7.0

Climate

Temperature: 21–27°C mean

Advantages & considerations

Why farmers may choose it

Field tolerant to both taro leaf blight and mosaic disease — a rare combination in one variety
Produces many small cormels per plant, useful where a higher cormel count per corm-clump is preferred for the market

Things to consider

The usual yield (16 t/ha) is lower than Sree Kiran's potential and Sree Rashmi's 18 to 20 t/ha. The trade-off is the disease tolerance
Small, numerous cormels rather than a few large corms may suit some markets better than others; confirm buyer preference before planting at scale

Suitable regions

States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.

Kerala

Tolerant is not immune: a weekly routine for Pallavi

CTCRI lists Sree Pallavi as field tolerant to leaf blight and to Dasheen mosaic virus. That helps, but leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae) costs 25 to 50% of the yield in taro that is left alone, and the bulletin's list of blight-resistant varieties does not include Pallavi. Treat tolerance as extra time, not as a guarantee.

Walk the field once a week, more often in a wet spell. Look for small, water-soaked, light brown spots on the leaves, sometimes with orange-red drops. Pick off and burn the leaves you find. Keep a mulch of paddy straw on the ridges, which CTCRI lists as part of the blight control, and do not plant taro on the same plot year after year. Okra is the intercrop the bulletin names.

Mosaic works differently. A plant with mottled, feathery leaves will not recover, and virus travels in cormels. Pull such plants out, and never keep their cormels for planting. Keep 3 suckers a plant at the second earthing up, since that also protects the size of Pallavi's small cormels.

Can you keep your own planting material?

This crop is grown from tubers, so your own field can supply next season. Keep medium-sized, firm tubers from healthy plants, store them cool and dark, and throw out anything soft or rotting — the disease travels inside the tuber. Replace your stock with certified planting material every few seasons, because virus builds up quietly year after year.

How it compares with other varieties

Every Arbi (Taro) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.

Variety	Best for	Maturity	Yield	States
Panchamukhi	Farmers whose buyers pay for big mother corms rather than small cormels	Not published (taro in general: 5 to 8 months, CTCRI)	20.00 t/ha corm yield in a 40-cultivar trial (mother corm, not cormel yield)	West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha
Punjab Arvi-1	Punjab farmers who want an early taro and can buy heavy seed cormels	176 days	About 225 q/ha (22.5 t/ha), PAU release figure	Punjab
Sree Hira	Odisha farmers with leaf blight on rainfed upland or irrigated medium and low land	About 180 days (6 months)	About 18 t/ha (leaflet); 18 to 20 t/ha (CTCRI bulletin)	Odisha
Sree Kiran	Kerala farmers who cannot sell the whole crop in one week and want a taro that keeps	190–210 days	17.5 t/ha usual, 28.5 t/ha potential (CTCRI)	Kerala
Sree Pallavithis page	Kerala farmers with a leaf blight or mosaic history who sell small cormels	7 months (about 210 days)	16 t/ha usual, 18 t/ha potential (CTCRI)	Kerala
Sree Rashmi	Kerala smallholders who want a non-acrid taro that does not need heavy inputs	210–240 days	18 to 20 t/ha usual, 32 t/ha potential (CTCRI)	Kerala

Other Arbi (Taro) varieties in the finder, for comparison.

Tools for this crop

The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Arbi (Taro) is selling for.

Subsidy and government support

Schemes that help with the cost of Arbi (Taro) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Sree Pallavi really resist leaf blight?

CTCRI says it is field tolerant to leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae) and to Dasheen mosaic virus. That is a lower grade than resistant. In a wet monsoon you can still see spots. Keep the usual guard: plant only disease-free cormels, pick off and burn infected leaves, mulch with paddy straw, and rotate or intercrop with okra. All four come from the CTCRI bulletin.

Where does Sree Pallavi come from?

CTCRI released it in 1987. It was selected from a germplasm collection made in Meghalaya, so it is a selection, not a cross. CTCRI lists Kerala as the recommended state. We found no trial from other states.

How many cormels does Sree Pallavi give, and how big are they?

Around 20 to 25 small, club-shaped cormels on each plant, with a big conical mother corm. The plant is tall (1 to 1.5 m) and tillers little. CTCRI says to keep only 3 healthy suckers per plant at the second earthing up, because too many suckers make the cormels smaller. This matters most for a variety that already makes small cormels.

When should I plant Sree Pallavi, and when do I dig it?

CTCRI's table gives April to June for rainfed taro in Kerala and January to March for irrigated taro. The crop takes 7 months, so an April to June planting is ready roughly from November to January. Dig when most leaves turn yellow, after stopping irrigation for a month.

Is Sree Pallavi itchy to eat?

CTCRI describes the cooking quality as good and lists 24.5% starch and 2.5% protein in its bulletin. Neither CTCRI page calls Pallavi non-acrid, unlike Sree Rashmi, so cook it fully. Boiling, steaming or frying all reduce the irritant, and cooking from raw leaves or cormels is where people get itching.