Suprabha
From HARS, OUAT, Pottangi (Odisha). Planted as rhizome bits, not true seed, and a good fit for dry ginger (saunth) with wide adaptability.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Ginger
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- Kharif
- Maturity period
- About 229 days
- Expected yield
- About 166 q/ha (fresh rhizome)
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Moderate rhizome rot tolerance
- Release
- HARS, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology (OUAT), Pottangi, Odisha. No release year is published.
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Suprabha is a ginger release from the High Altitude Research Station (HARS) of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Pottangi, Odisha. Sourced descriptions give it a 229-day duration, a fresh-rhizome yield of 16.6 t/ha, 20.5% dry recovery, 4.4% crude fibre, 8.9% oleoresin and 1.9% essential oil. Its rhizomes are plumpy with comparatively low fibre and a brown skin with oval-shaped ends; it shows wide adaptability across both early and late sowing windows and is particularly favoured for dry-ginger (saunth) making. Though bred at a hill station in Odisha, it is now grown well beyond that origin, across Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Suprabha when dry ginger (saunth) is what you sell and your sowing date is never fixed. It is the one ginger here reported to do well in both the early and the late sowing window, which is worth a lot if your planting waits on rain or on labour, and its 8.9% oleoresin is behind only Rio-de-Janeiro's 10.5% and Maran's 10.0%, so an extract buyer will pay for it too. Be clear about what it is not: on dry recovery it is mid-pack, and IISR Rejatha's 23% beats its 20.5%, so pick Suprabha for the flexibility and the oleoresin rather than for the highest saunth yield. The cost is weight and time: its published fresh yield is the lowest of the nine here, below Varada's 22.6 t/ha and Mahima's 23.2, and it takes about 229 days. Choose Varada instead for a similar dry recovery with a higher fresh yield and a month less in the ground. Choose Rio-de-Janeiro or Maran instead only if you sell fresh or to a buyer who pays on oleoresin. No release year is published for Suprabha.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Low-fibre, plumpy rhizome well suited to dry-ginger (saunth) processing
- Wide adaptability across both early and late sowing windows, and across many states beyond its Odisha origin
- Relatively high oleoresin content (8.9%) among Indian ginger types
Things to consider
- The published fresh-rhizome yield is 16.6 t/ha (about 166 q/ha). Figures of 200–250 q/ha seen elsewhere need strong management.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Kerala
- Karnataka
- Odisha
Making saunth: where the variety matters and where it does not
Suprabha is chosen for dry ginger because of its numbers: 20.5% dry recovery, 4.4% fibre and 8.9% oleoresin. It gives you a good start. The finished saunth is decided after harvest.
What shapes the final product is the work you do on it: how clean and evenly sized the rhizomes are, how well they are dried and how long they are stored. A good variety dried badly sells as poor saunth.
Do the sum before you commit. With a fresh yield of 16.6 t/ha and 20.5% recovery, a hectare gives roughly 3.4 tonnes of dry ginger. Compare that with Varada, where 22.6 t/ha at 20.7% gives about 4.7 tonnes. If your buyer pays the same for both, Varada earns more.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This crop is planted from rhizomes, so your own field can supply next season. Lift plump rhizomes with healthy buds from plants that showed no rot or yellowing, store them where it is cool, dry and dark, and leave out every soft or mouldy piece — rot carries over in the planting material. Take fresh, clean rhizomes from a research station, a KVK or a government farm when yields drop.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Ginger variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IISR Rejatha | Oil-rich, low-fibre ginger for fresh or dry use | 200 days (Indian Horticulture 2025); harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | 22.4 t/ha fresh rhizome (IISR) | Kerala, Karnataka |
| IISR Surasa | Kitchen gardens and grow-bags in Kerala | 220 to 240 days (IISR); harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | 24.33 t/ha fresh rhizome on average (IISR) | Kerala |
| IISR Vajra | The highest IISR ginger yield, with strong flavour | 220 to 240 days (IISR); harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | 26.38 t/ha fresh rhizome on average (IISR variety page) | Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal |
| IISR Varada | Low-fibre, plump ginger with 20.7% dry recovery, for both fresh sale and drying | 195–205 days | ~225 q/ha | Karnataka |
| Mahima | Ginger rated resistant to root-knot nematode, with bold, plump rhizomes, for Kerala | 200 days | 220–270 q/ha (fresh rhizome) | Kerala |
| Maran | Pungent, strong-flavoured ginger from Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka hills, with 10.0% oleoresin and 25.21 t/ha in the TNAU table | About 200 days; harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | Medium–high | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka |
| Nadia | The Meghalaya farmer's ginger (Ing Bah) with 28.55 t/ha, 22.6% dry recovery and low fibre in the TNAU table | About 200 days; harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | High | Meghalaya |
| Rio-de-Janeiro | Bold ginger with high oil (2.3%) and the highest oleoresin (10.5%) in the TNAU table, grown for the fresh market | About 190 days; harvest after 8 to 9 months (TNAU) | 17.65 t/ha fresh rhizome (TNAU table) | Karnataka, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh |
| Suprabhathis page | Ginger for drying into saunth: 20.5% dry recovery, 8.9% oleoresin and low fibre | About 229 days | About 166 q/ha (fresh rhizome) | Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha |
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 Ginger is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Ginger plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Ginger variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Ginger into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Ginger rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Ginger seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Suprabha ginger an IISR release?
No — sources trace it to HARS, OUAT, Pottangi, Odisha, not ICAR-IISR Calicut.
What is Suprabha ginger best used for?
Its low fibre content and comparatively high oleoresin (8.9%) make it well suited to dry-ginger (saunth) processing, though it is also grown widely as a fresh-market rhizome.
Is Suprabha an IISR variety like Varada and Mahima?
No. Sources trace it to HARS, OUAT, Pottangi in Odisha, not to ICAR-IISR Calicut.
Why is the yield about 166 q/ha when I have seen 200–250?
166 q/ha (16.6 t/ha) is the published fresh-rhizome yield. Figures of 200–250 q/ha need strong management, so plan on the published figure.
Where is Suprabha grown outside Odisha?
Sources list Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh as well as Odisha.
Suprabha or Varada for dry ginger (saunth)?
Varada gives about the same dry recovery, 20.7% against 20.5%, with a higher fresh yield (22.6 t/ha against 16.6 t/ha) in fewer days (about 200 against 229). Suprabha has 8.9% oleoresin and does well in both early and late sowing windows. If sowing date is your problem, look at Suprabha. Otherwise Varada.
How long is Suprabha's 229 days against other gingers?
It sits at the long end of the IISR lines. Mahima takes about 200 days and Varada 195–205. TNAU shows Rio-de-Janeiro at about 190 days and Nadia and Maran at about 200, but it gives most local types the same 200 days, so treat those as harvest ages, not ripening ratings. Suprabha is about a month longer than Varada, and that month is part of the price of its lower fresh yield. Count it before you choose.
Sourced from: Suprabha — Kisaan Helpline ginger variety profile, Ginger production technology, TNAU Agritech Portal (variety table: Suprabha 16.6 t/ha green ginger, 229 days, 20.5% dry recovery, 8.9% oleoresin). editorial policy.