Thompson Seedless
Raised from rooted cuttings, not true seed. The green seedless variety behind most of India’s table-grape and raisin trade — reliable, but the spray calendar cannot slip once the monsoon arrives.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Grapes
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine)
- Expected yield
- 250–300 q/ha at full bearing
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Release
- Not a bred Indian release — an imported Vitis vinifera cultivar (Sultana/Sultanina) of Asia Minor origin, long established in Maharashtra as the base stock from which farmers have since selected the Tas-A-Ganesh (1970), Sonaka (1977) and Manik Chaman (1982) mutants.
About this variety
Thompson Seedless is the Indian and American name for the seedless grape known internationally as Sultana or Sultanina — Vitis vinifera stock that originated in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey/Iran) and was carried to Crete and onward across the Mediterranean by Ottoman-era trade, per a directly-fetched Wikipedia account. The American name honours William Thompson, an early California grower sometimes credited with introducing the variety there; the US Code of Federal Regulations treats 'Thompson Seedless' and 'Sultana' as synonymous. It is pale green/yellow, oval-berried and genuinely dual-purpose — used as a table grape, dried into raisins (it supplies about 97% of California's raisin crop) and, less commonly, for wine. In India it became the foundation variety of the entire Maharashtra table-grape industry, and progressive farmers have since selected several natural bud-sport mutants directly off Thompson Seedless vines that are now major varieties in their own right, each independently and consistently documented across sources: Tas-A-Ganesh (identified 1970 by Vasant Rao Arve at Borgaon, Sangli district — oval, green, larger bunch), Sonaka (identified 1977 by Nanasaheb Kale at Nanaj, Solapur district — long berry, large bunch, notably sweet) and Manik Chaman (developed 1982, elongated berry). Together, Thompson Seedless and these three mutants account for roughly 120,000 tonnes of India's raisin production each year.
Key characteristics
Yield & maturity
Maturity period
Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine)
Expected yield
250–300 q/ha at full bearing
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Genuinely dual/triple-purpose — table grape, raisin drying (about 97% of California's raisin crop, and the anchor variety for India's own raisin industry) and even wine, per a directly-fetched Wikipedia account
- Long-established base stock robust enough that Maharashtra farmers have independently selected three separate commercially important mutants directly from it (Tas-A-Ganesh 1970, Sonaka 1977, Manik Chaman 1982) — a sign of how widely adapted and genetically stable-yet-mutable the vine is
Things to consider
- As a Vitis vinifera cultivar, Thompson Seedless carries no natural resistance to downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola, a pathogen native to North America that V. vinifera never evolved alongside) — consistent with this record's own diseaseResistance field; it is a commonly used susceptible check cultivar in downy-mildew research
- The related mutants (Sonaka, Tas-A-Ganesh, Manik Chaman) share the same vinifera downy-mildew vulnerability, so a spray programme timed to the monsoon is standard practice across all of them, not just the parent
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
- Karnataka
Frequently asked questions
Is Thompson Seedless an Indian-bred variety?
No — it's an imported Vitis vinifera cultivar of Asia Minor origin (also called Sultana or Sultanina internationally), long established as the base stock of Maharashtra's table-grape industry. What is Indian is a set of farmer-selected mutants bred directly off Thompson Seedless vines — Tas-A-Ganesh (1970), Sonaka (1977) and Manik Chaman (1982) — each identified by a named grower in a specific Maharashtra district.
Why do downy mildew sprays matter so much for Thompson Seedless?
Because it's a Vitis vinifera cultivar with no natural resistance to Plasmopara viticola, the downy-mildew pathogen — it evolved in the Mediterranean/Asia Minor without exposure to a fungus that's native to North America, so it has no built-in defence and is routinely used as the susceptible benchmark in disease research.
Sourced from: Sultana (grape) — Wikipedia, From the vineyards of Nashik — Millennium Post. editorial policy.