Arka Komal
An ICAR-IIHR bush bean with flat, straight, bright green pods, good transport and cooking quality, and a dry-seed option. The national checklist gives 20 t/ha of pods or 1,500 kg/ha of seed.
Quick facts
- Crop
- French Bean
- Type
- Bush type
- Season
- Rabi
- Maturity period
- First pick about 70–75 days (IIHR variety list)
- Seed rate
- 60–80 kg/ha (about 24–32 kg/acre)
- Expected yield
- 20 t/ha pods, or 1,500 kg/ha dry seed
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No special resistance claimed
- Release
- Released by ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru. Listed in the national checklist for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, the hills of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Arka Komal is an erect bush French bean from ICAR-IIHR, Bengaluru. It is photo-insensitive, so it does not wait for a particular day length to flower. It has a bright green stem and foliage, and flat, straight, green pods with good transport and cooking quality. The national vegetable checklist gives a pod yield of 20 t/ha and a seed yield of 1,500 kg/ha, and recommends it for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, the hills of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. IIHR lists the first pick at about 70–75 days. In a Karnataka farmer's fields near Bengaluru it averaged 16.5 t/ha over three years.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Arka Komal if you sell to a market some distance away, since the checklist credits its pods with good transport and cooking quality, or if you want the option of a dry-seed crop (1,500 kg/ha). It gives 20 t/ha of pods. Choose Arka Suvidha (19 t/ha) if you want a fleshy, stringless pod, and Arka Anoop (20 t/ha) if rust and bacterial blight are your problem. If you need the fastest crop, Contender and Pusa Parvati reach first picking in about 50 days.
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeMid-October to November for the plains rabi crop
- Seed rate60–80 kg/ha (about 24–32 kg/acre)
- SpacingRows 30–45 cm apart, plants 8–10 cm apart in the row
Soil & climate
Soil
- pH
- 5.5–6.8
Climate
- Temperature
- 20–25°C for growth and pod yield
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Flat, straight pods with good transport and cooking quality, which suit a distant market.
- A dry-seed option: 1,500 kg/ha of seed if you leave a plot to mature.
- Photo-insensitive, so it can be sown in more than one season.
Things to consider
- The checklist lists no disease resistance for it. Arka Anoop covers rust and bacterial blight.
- The 20 t/ha pod figure and the 1,500 kg/ha seed figure are two uses of the same area. Do not add them together.
- In farm use, a three-year average of 16.5 t/ha was recorded by a Karnataka grower. Plan on the real figure, not the listed one.
- It is slower to the first pick (about 70–75 days) than Contender and Pusa Parvati (about 50 days).
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Himachal Pradesh
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Karnataka
- Tamil Nadu
- Kerala
Pods or dry seed: decide before the first picking
The national checklist gives Arka Komal two yields: 20 t/ha of green pods, or 1,500 kg/ha of dry seed. You cannot have both from the same plants.
Every pod you leave to dry is a pod you did not sell green, and a plant that is still ripening seed stops flowering. So the choice has to be made early, not at the end.
A simple way to plan it: keep one separate strip for seed and pick the rest green. Mark the strip when you sow. Do not pick from it, even to fill a basket. Pods are ready when they are dry and the seed rattles. Keep seed only from healthy plants, because bacterial blight and anthracnose travel in the seed.
Can you keep your own planting material?
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 French Bean variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arka Anoop | The disease-resistant Arka bean: rust and bacterial blight | No separate days-to-first-pick figure is published | 20 t/ha green pods | Karnataka |
| Arka Komalthis page | A flat-podded bush bean that travels well, with an optional dry-seed crop | First pick about 70–75 days (IIHR variety list) | 20 t/ha pods, or 1,500 kg/ha dry seed | Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala |
| Arka Suvidha | A stringless, fleshy-podded bean that earns a better price | First pick about 70–75 days (IIHR variety list) | 19 t/ha green pods | Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir |
| Contender | An early, widely adapted bush bean for the plains' autumn sowing | First picking in about 50 days | 20 t/ha green pods (200 q/ha) | Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka |
| Kentucky Wonder | A climbing heirloom bean for gardens that already have supports | Seed sellers list 58–72 days to first picking; picking then continues for weeks | No Indian public trial figure is published | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka |
| Pant Anupama | A resistant bush bean for the hills and tarai, grown for pod quality, not for yield | First picking in 55–65 days after sowing | 9 t/ha green pods (90 q/ha) | Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand |
| Pusa Parvati | The highest-yielding Indian bush bean here, with mosaic and powdery mildew resistance | First picking in about 50 days | 22.5 t/ha green pods (225 q/ha) | Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana |
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 French Bean is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your French Bean 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 French Bean variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for French Bean into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for French Bean in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's French Bean rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of French Bean seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
What do the 20 t/ha and 1,500 kg/ha figures for Arka Komal mean?
The national checklist gives a pod yield of 20 t/ha and a seed yield of 1,500 kg/ha. They are two different uses of the same area. Pick the pods green and you get the first. Leave the pods to dry on the plant and you get the second.
Which states is Arka Komal recommended for?
The national checklist lists Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, the hills of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Outside these, trial it on a small plot first.
How is Arka Komal different from Arka Suvidha?
Komal has flat, straight pods and gives 20 t/ha, with a seed option of 1,500 kg/ha. Suvidha has straight, oval, light green, fleshy, stringless, crisp pods and gives 19 t/ha. Komal is listed for more states.
What yield did a real farm get from Arka Komal?
An IIHR success story from a farmer near Bengaluru gives a three-year average of 16.5 t/ha for Arka Komal, against 17.4 t/ha for Arka Anoop and 16.7 t/ha for Arka Suvidha. Farm figures are lower than the 20 t/ha listed.
Sourced from: Checklist of Commercial Varieties of Vegetables — TNAU Agritech Portal (national bulletin), Success story of an innovative vegetable farmer, Karnataka — ICAR-IIHR. editorial policy.