Gola
An old ber variety of the dry belt that ripens early. It ripened from February at Bawal in Haryana and from the last week of December at Sardarkrushinagar in Gujarat. It had the highest sugar of four varieties at Bawal, but gave less fruit than Kaithli.
Quick facts
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- Kharif
- Starts bearing
- Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked)
- Expected yield
- About 41 to 69 kg a tree in dry-land trials
- Suitable soil
- Sandy / light soil
- Disease resistance
- Not separately documented
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Gola is one of the older named ber varieties of north-west India, grown alongside Seb, Umran, Kaithli and Banarasi Karaka. It ripens early. At Bawal in Haryana it ripened from 2 February to 17 March, and at Sardarkrushinagar in Gujarat it came in the last week of December. At Bawal it had the highest sugar of the four varieties tested, 19.4% and 17.6% TSS, and also the highest acidity. Its yield was behind Kaithli there, 69.1 and 42.7 kg a tree against 119.9 and 88.3 kg. TNAU lists Gola among its cultivable ber varieties. Ripening dates move with the place, so ask your KVK for local dates.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Gola if you want an early ber with good sugar. In the Bawal trial in Haryana (300 mm of rain a year, trees 13 years old), Gola ripened first, from 2 February to 17 March, and had the highest sugar of the four varieties, 19.4% and 17.6% TSS in the two years. It gave 69.1 and 42.7 kg a tree, against 119.9 and 88.3 kg for Kaithli. So pick Kaithli if tonnage matters most, and pick Gola if the early market and sweetness matter more. Do not pick it for a late crop. Umran ripens weeks after Gola.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Ripens early: the peak picking day at Bawal was 22 February, 26 days before Umran's.
- Highest sugar of the four varieties in the Bawal trial, 19.4% and 17.6% TSS.
Things to consider
- Gave about half of Kaithli's yield at Bawal: 69.1 and 42.7 kg a tree against 119.9 and 88.3 kg.
- Highest acidity of the four varieties at Bawal, so the fruit is sweet with a sharp edge.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Rajasthan
- Haryana
- Punjab
The early-ber sum: 26 days earlier, about half the crop
Gola's pitch is timing. At Bawal in Haryana its peak picking day was 22 February and Umran's was 20 March, a gap of 26 days. Kaithli's season ran from 1 to 25 March. A grower who sells in February meets fewer sellers than one who sells in the second half of March.
The price of that timing is volume. In the first year Gola gave 69.1 kg a tree against Kaithli's 119.9 kg, a little over half. In the second year it gave 42.7 kg against 88.3 kg, under half. The paper blames poor soil moisture for the low second year, and a sandy, rainfed site with 300 mm of rain will do that to any variety.
So the question for your own farm is simple. Take last year's mandi price for ber in late February and in late March. Multiply the February price by about 40 to 70 kg and the March price by the Kaithli range of 88 to 120 kg. If the early price is not close to double, Kaithli earns more. If it is, Gola wins. The papers give no prices, so this one number has to come from your market.
Where the planting material comes from
This variety is budded onto a rootstock, not grown from seed. Seed out of its fruit will not come up as this variety, so it cannot be kept as seed. Buy budded plants from a registered nursery or a government farm, so the plant is true to the variety and free of disease.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Ber (Indian Jujube) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banarasi Karaka | Farmers in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the eastern plains who want a large-fruited ber and will plant a second variety nearby | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | 25.5 to 130 kg a tree in three trials (Kanpur, West Bengal, Haryana) | Uttar Pradesh |
| Golathis page | Farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab who want an early, sweet ber and can live with a lower yield than Kaithli | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | About 41 to 69 kg a tree in dry-land trials | Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab |
| Kaithli | Farmers on dry, rainfed sandy land in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh who want the most fruit a tree can give | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | About 41 to 120 kg a tree in dry-land trials | Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh |
| Seb (Apple Ber) | Farmers selling to fresh-fruit buyers who pay for a round, apple-shaped ber, and who plan an early crop | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | Good; valued for large fruit size | Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh |
| Thar Bhubhraj | Arid-zone farmers in Rajasthan who sell early, very sweet fresh ber and accept a modest yield | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | About 35 kg a tree at 6 years (ICAR-CIAH) | Rajasthan |
| Thar Malti | Arid-zone farmers who want a heavy-bearing late ber for table sale or processing, and who will test its frost tolerance on a few trees first | Late maturing: fruit ripens 145–150 days from fruit set (ICAR-CIAH) | 65–70 kg a plant (ICAR-CIAH; plant age not stated) | Rajasthan |
| Thar Sevika | Arid-zone farmers in Rajasthan who want an early ber crop and are fine with a modest yield per tree | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked); early-maturing | About 34 kg a tree at 6 years (ICAR-CIAH) | Rajasthan |
| Umran | Farmers who can irrigate and feed their trees and want large, fleshy fruit for a late crop | Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked) | Often quoted at 150 to 200 kg a tree; trials gave 37 to 48 kg | Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh |
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 Ber (Indian Jujube) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Ber (Indian Jujube) plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Germination CalculatorTest 100 seeds from the bag before sowing and see whether the lot is fit to sow.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Ber (Indian Jujube) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Ber (Indian Jujube) into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Ber (Indian Jujube) in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Ber (Indian Jujube) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Ber (Indian Jujube) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
When does Gola ripen compared with Kaithli and Umran?
At Bawal in Haryana, Gola ripened from 2 February to 17 March with the peak on 22 February. Kaithli ripened from 1 to 25 March, and Umran from 5 to 28 March with the peak on 20 March. At Sardarkrushinagar in Gujarat, Gola was among the earliest, ripening in the last week of December, while Kaithli and Umran came in the third and fourth weeks of January. The dates move with the place and the year, so ask your nearest KVK for local dates.
How much fruit does a Gola tree give?
At Bawal the trees gave 69.1 kg in 1990-91 and 42.7 kg in 1991-92. The paper says the second year was low because the soil held little moisture. At Sardarkrushinagar, planted 6 x 6 m, Gola averaged 41.29 kg a tree over three years, behind Gola Gurgaon (66.92 kg) and Banarsi Pewandi (53.92 kg). Plan for roughly 40 to 70 kg on dry land and treat TNAU's general ber figure of 70 to 80 kg as the upper end for a well-watered orchard.
Is Gola sweeter than Kaithli and Umran?
In the Bawal trial it was. Gola had 19.4% and 17.6% TSS in the two years, Umran 17.0% and 16.8%, and Kaithli 15.2% and 15.3%. The same paper also found the highest acidity in Gola, so the fruit is sweet with a sharp edge, not mild. TSS is the share of dissolved solids, mostly sugar, so a higher number means a sweeter fruit.
How do I keep fruit fly out of a Gola orchard?
TNAU's ber page says to destroy every infested fruit and dig the soil under the tree to expose the pupae. It also asks for 50 fish-meal traps a hectare, with the fish meal renewed every 20 days. Start the traps before the first fruit colours, because an early variety gets its fruit into the fly season first. Chemical sprays are also listed above. Some old chemicals on such pages are no longer permitted, so check with your KVK before spraying.
What spacing and planting month does TNAU give for ber like Gola?
TNAU says to plant budded plants in July and August, at 7 x 7 m in pits of 60 x 60 x 60 cm. That is about 204 trees a hectare. TNAU gives different spacings only for Kaithali (8 x 3 m) and Banarasi (8 x 4 m), none for Gola, so 7 x 7 m is the safe default. The Gujarat trial used 6 x 6 m. Give the young trees water for establishment and let them settle before the first heavy crop.
How did Gola do in a humid, irrigated-zone trial?
At Mondouri in West Bengal's new alluvial zone (5-year-old trees, 5 x 5 m, 2013-14) Gola gave 29.4 kg a tree with fruit of 16.9 g and 0.4% acidity. That is in the middle of 12 varieties: Madhavpur gave 50.8 kg and Umran 47.6 kg, and Kaithali only 14.6 kg. Gola's yield in the dry Bawal and Sardarkrushinagar trials was 41 to 69 kg, so the humid site gave less.
Sourced from: Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana) — TNAU Agritech Portal, Horticulture, Saini et al., Performance of selected ber cultivars under rainfed conditions, Annals of Arid Zone 33(4), 1994, Chovatia et al., Performance of ber cultivars under arid conditions, Annals of Arid Zone 32(4), 1993, Shiva Kumar et al., Performance of ber in the new alluvial zone of West Bengal, Journal of Crop and Weed 13(1), 2017. editorial policy.