Seb (Apple Ber)
A ber with round, apple-shaped fruit. At the CAZRI orchard in Jodhpur the fruit weighed 24.6 g with 16.8 Brix, and it ripened from the middle of January to the middle of February. It is a parent of Thar Sevika.
Quick facts
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- Kharif
- Starts bearing
- Bears from year 2–3 (grafted/top-worked)
- Expected yield
- Good; valued for large fruit size
- 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
Seb, called Apple Ber, has a round, apple-shaped fruit with a yellowish-green skin and brown specks. At Jodhpur, CAZRI measured the fruit at 3.6 x 3.3 cm and 24.6 g, with a TSS of 16.8 Brix, a pulp-to-stone ratio of 14.4 and hard, white pulp. It ripened from the middle of January to the middle of February, which the paper calls early. The trees were budded on bordi rootstock. ICAR-CIAH Bikaner lists Seb as one parent of Thar Sevika, crossed with Katha. We found no yield trial for Seb to quote here.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Seb if your buyers like a round, apple-shaped ber and you want an early crop. At the CAZRI orchard in Jodhpur the fruit measured 3.6 x 3.3 cm, weighed 24.6 g and had 16.8 Brix. It ripened from the middle of January to the middle of February. The pulp is hard and white, and the pulp-to-stone ratio is 14.4, lower than Umran's 22.05 at Bawal. Do not choose Seb for the most flesh or the most sugar. Choose Umran for flesh and Thar Bhubhraj for sugar.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Round, apple-shaped fruit that weighed 24.6 g at Jodhpur and looks different on a market tray.
- Ripens early, from the middle of January to the middle of February at Jodhpur.
- A parent of the named release Thar Sevika.
Things to consider
- Pulp-to-stone ratio of 14.4 is lower than Umran's 22.05 at Bawal, so less flesh per fruit.
- Hard pulp and a moderate 16.8 Brix; no yield trial was found to quote.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Rajasthan
- Gujarat
- Uttar Pradesh
What the pulp-to-stone ratio of 14.4 means for a Seb fruit
Ber papers quote a pulp-to-stone ratio, and it is easy to misread. It is the weight of flesh divided by the weight of the stone. A ratio of 14.4 means the fruit holds 14.4 g of flesh for every 1 g of stone.
For Seb's 24.6 g fruit at Jodhpur that works out to about 23 g of flesh and 1.6 g of stone. So roughly 93.5% of the fruit can be eaten. Umran's ratio of 22.05 at Bawal gives about 96%. The gap of 2 to 3 percentage points sounds small, but across a tonne of fruit it is 20 to 30 kg of extra flesh, and it matters most if you sell stoned pulp or candy.
Seb makes up for it with shape and size. The round, apple-like fruit of 3.6 x 3.3 cm looks different on a market tray, and it ripens early. If your buyers pay for looks and an early date, Seb's ratio will not hold you back. If they pay by the kilo of edible flesh, Umran is the better pick.
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 |
| Gola | 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)this page | 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
How big and how sweet is a Seb fruit?
In the 1986 CAZRI description from Jodhpur the fruit is round and apple-shaped, 3.6 x 3.3 cm, weighing 24.6 g, with a TSS of 16.8 Brix. The skin is yellowish green with brown specks and slightly rough, and the pulp is white and hard. Fruit size and sugar change with place and tree age, so use these as a guide for a dry-zone orchard, not as a guarantee.
When does Seb ripen?
The CAZRI paper calls it an early cultivar, with fruit ripening from the middle of January to the middle of February at Jodhpur. That is a little before Katha, which ripened in the third week of February and early March in the same orchard. If you want a spread of harvest dates, pairing Seb with a later variety such as Katha, or Umran, helps.
Why is Seb used in ber breeding?
ICAR-CIAH Bikaner lists Thar Sevika as a cross of Seb and Katha, an early-maturing variety with fruit at 22 to 24% TSS and about 34 kg a tree at 6 years. So Seb is a parent of a named release, not just a market name. Planting Seb does not give you Thar Sevika. A cross has to be grown from the released plant, so buy Thar Sevika plants by name if you want it.
How much of a Seb fruit is flesh?
The Jodhpur paper gives a pulp-to-stone ratio of 14.4 for Seb. For a 24.6 g fruit that works out to about 23 g of flesh and 1.6 g of stone, so roughly 93.5% of the fruit is edible. Umran's ratio of 22.05 at Bawal gives about 96%. The gap is small but it shows when you sell by weight or process the fruit.
Which rootstock was Seb grown on in the CAZRI trials?
The Jodhpur paper says all twelve cultivars were budded on bordi (Ziziphus mauritiana var. rotundifolia) rootstock. TNAU also says ber is planted as budded plants, and to keep a straight stem up to 75 cm and remove rootstock sprouts. Ask your nursery which rootstock it used and whether the bud union is healthy before you buy.
Sourced from: Pareek and Vashishtha, Vegetative and fruit characteristics of ber cultivars of Rajasthan, Annals of Arid Zone 25(3), 1986, ICAR-CIAH Bikaner — varieties identified at institute level (ber). editorial policy.