Excel
An introduced green-yellow fig with a light pulp. In the Rahuri trial quoted by the Purandar fig GI application it gave 797.66 fruits and 21.33 kg a tree, the lowest of the five named cultivars.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Fig (Anjeer)
- Type
- Hardwood-cutting variety
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- Perennial; bears from year 2–3
- Expected yield
- 21.33 kg a tree at Rahuri, against Poona's 44.69 kg
- Suitable soil
- All soils
- Release
- Introduced from abroad; Indian release record not found
About this variety
Excel is an introduced fig name that appears in Indian trials beside Poona, Dinkar, Conadria and Deanna. A 2025 paper, quoting Gawade and Waskar (2005), gives a fruit weight of 24.72 g and a diameter of 3.80 to 4.50 cm, with greenish to greenish-yellow skin and lighter pulp than Conadria. Total sugars are 16.48 g per 100 g in the same table. At Rahuri it gave 797.66 fruits and 21.33 kg a tree. At PAU Ludhiana, in 11 cultivars watched for pests in 2012 to 2014, its fruit held 75 fig wasps, second only to Texas at 80.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Excel only as a small test block beside Poona or Dinkar, not as your main fig. In the Rahuri trial of seven cultivars, quoted in the Purandar fig GI application, Excel gave 797.66 fruits and 21.33 kg a tree. That is the lowest of the five named cultivars, against 44.69 kg for Poona, 37.50 for Dinkar, 37.43 for Conadria and 37.19 for Deanna. Its fruit is also small, 26.61 g in that table. Excel is grown in the Purandar belt, and an Andhra Pradesh trial paper lists it with Deanna and Conadria among exotic types that did well at Bangalore in 1995, so it is not a poor fig, just a lighter-yielding one. We found no release record and no trial that tests it for splitting, drying or jam.
Key characteristics
Sowing & cultivation
Yield & maturity
Maturity period
Perennial; bears from year 2–3
Expected yield
21.33 kg a tree at Rahuri, against Poona's 44.69 kg
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
- No Excel-specific disease record found; 75 fig wasps a fruit at PAU Ludhiana, second highest of 11 cultivars
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Named among the cultivars grown in Purandar taluka, the main fig belt of Maharashtra.
- Many fruits a tree, 797.66 at Rahuri, level with Deanna's 824.66.
- Green-yellow skin with light pulp, a different look from Poona if you want to sell something new.
Things to consider
- The lowest yield of the five named cultivars at Rahuri: 21.33 kg a tree, against 44.69 kg for Poona.
- Small fruit: 26.61 g at Rahuri and 24.72 g in the 2025 paper, against 40.86 g for Poona at Rahuri.
- 75 fig wasps a fruit at PAU Ludhiana, second highest of 11 cultivars, with no release record or splitting trial found.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
- Punjab
Many small fruits: what Excel's numbers say
The Rahuri table, quoted in the Purandar fig GI application from a Central Institute for Arid Horticulture review, gives two numbers for each cultivar: fruits a tree and kilograms a tree. Excel has 797.66 fruits and 21.33 kg. Poona has 1,382.66 fruits and 44.69 kg, and Dinkar 1,156.33 and 37.50. Deanna is close to Excel on fruit count, 824.66, but gave 37.19 kg, because its fruit is heavier.
The fruit weight table in the same application shows the other side: 26.61 g for Excel, 40.86 g for Poona and 36.59 g for Dinkar. A 2025 paper, quoting Gawade and Waskar (2005), gives Excel 24.72 g. So the two reports agree that Excel is a small-fruited fig, with fewer fruits than Poona on top of it.
What this means for you is the size grade you sell. Fruit size can matter to a buyer, so a small green-yellow fig has to earn its place with taste or a different kind of buyer. We found no taste panel or price record for Excel, so ask a local buyer what the price would be before you plant more than a few trees.
Can you save seed from this crop?
This is an open-pollinated variety, so seed from a healthy crop of your own can be sown again. Keep seed only from disease-free plants, dry it properly, store it cool and dry, and bring in fresh certified seed every three to four years so the variety does not drift.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Fig (Anjeer) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellary | Karnataka dry belt; local name, little published data | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | No published yield figure found | Karnataka |
| Brown Turkey | Low-pest orchards; purple-brown fresh fig | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | No Indian per-tree yield figure found | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh |
| Conadria | Green-yellow fresh or jam fig in a dry ripening | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | 37.43 kg a tree at Rahuri, behind Poona's 44.69 kg | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat |
| Daulatabad | A traditional Maharashtra name; verify the cuttings | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | No published yield figure found | Maharashtra |
| Deanna | Large golden fruit; needs shoot-borer watch | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | 37.19 kg a tree at Rahuri; fruit 60.43 g in Andhra Pradesh | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat |
| Dinkar | Maharashtra orchards; fresh sale and processing | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | 37.50 kg a tree at Rahuri, behind Poona's 44.69 kg | Maharashtra |
| Excelthis page | A small test block; fresh fruit in a dry ripening | Perennial; bears from year 2–3 | 21.33 kg a tree at Rahuri, against Poona's 44.69 kg | Maharashtra, Punjab |
| Poona Fig | Fresh fruit in Maharashtra; the best-tested Indian fig | Perennial; bears from year 2–3, full bearing by ~year 5 | 44.69 kg a tree at Rahuri, the best of seven cultivars | Maharashtra |
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 Fig (Anjeer) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Fig (Anjeer) 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 Fig (Anjeer) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Fig (Anjeer) into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Fig (Anjeer) in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Fig (Anjeer) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Fig (Anjeer) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Excel a good fig for Maharashtra farmers?
It grows there, but it is not the best choice. The Purandar fig GI application lists Excel among the cultivars grown in Purandar taluka, and the Rahuri trial table shows it at 21.33 kg a tree, against 44.69 kg for Poona, the commercial variety there. Poona or Dinkar has more numbers behind it. Try Excel on a few trees only if you want a green-yellow fig.
How is Excel different from Poona and Conadria?
At Rahuri, Excel gave 21.33 kg a tree from 797.66 fruits of 26.61 g. Poona gave 44.69 kg from 1,382.66 fruits of 40.86 g, and Conadria 37.43 kg from 930 fruits. A 2025 paper describes Excel and Conadria as greenish to greenish-yellow, with Conadria's pulp dark pink and Excel's lighter. So Excel is the smaller, lighter-fleshed, lower-yielding of the three.
Does Excel have a pest problem in north India?
In the PAU Ludhiana orchard (11 cultivars, 2012 to 2014; Singh and Kaur, Acta Horticulturae 1173) Excel's fruit held 75 fig wasps, second only to Texas at 80, against 30 in Brown Turkey. The abstract names Conadria, Poona and Texas, not Excel, for leaf roller, fig borer, hairy caterpillar and fruit fly, so Excel did not top those. It is one orchard, so use it as a guide to what to watch, not as a pest score.
Do I need a fig wasp or a second tree for Excel to set fruit?
We found no source that says which pollination type Excel is. Papers name fig wasps inside Excel fruit at Ludhiana, but that does not show whether the fruit needs them to develop. The Purandar application describes four fig types by pollination. Ask your nursery whether the Excel cuttings it sells are a common type, and plant one tree first to see if it fruits alone.
Sourced from: GI application for Purandar Fig (Rahuri varietal trial: Excel 21.33 kg a tree, 26.61 g a fruit), Evaluation of fig germplasm against insect and mite pests in North-West India — Acta Horticulturae 1173 (Singh and Kaur, PAU), Nutritional composition of Deanna fig, compared with other cultivars incl. Excel — Plant Archives 26(S1), 2026, Evaluation of Fig Varieties in Southern Zone of Telangana — Int. J. Pure and Applied Biosciences 2(6), 2014. editorial policy.