Allahabad Safeda
Grafted, not true seed. White-fleshed, thin-skinned — the default north Indian table variety, but with no wilt protection; wilt wiped out old UP orchards.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Guava
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- Bearing from year 2–3 (grafted plant)
- Expected yield
- 150–200 q/ha at full bearing
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Susceptible to guava wilt — avoid replanting on wilt-affected land
- Release
- A traditional cultivar of the Allahabad (Prayagraj) area, in wide commercial planting for about four decades. It is not an ICAR-bred hybrid.
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Allahabad Safeda is the guava that most Indian orchards grew for decades. The fruit has greenish-yellow skin and white flesh, with good sugars and vitamin C. It is a dwarf tree with a round, spreading crown, and the fruit is smooth and round. One crop guide gives about 145 kg of fruit per tree and 10–12% total soluble solids. Lucknow-49 came from a chance seedling of this variety. Do not mix it up with Allahabad Surkha, a pink-fleshed guava from the same district. Surkha holds a GI tag (2007–08) and Safeda does not. A genome paper calls Safeda the gold-standard guava, and it is now India's reference guava for breeding work.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Allahabad Safeda if you want the white-fleshed guava that north Indian buyers already know, with good sugars and vitamin C. It is the safe pick for taste. It is not the safe pick for the tree. It has no protection against guava wilt, and wilt has wiped out many older orchards in Uttar Pradesh. Pick Lucknow-49 instead if you want a heavier and more dependable crop and some wilt tolerance. Pick Chittidar if you are replanting an old orchard where wilt has been a problem and you still want an Allahabad-type fruit.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Considered the gold-standard commercial guava cultivar in India — large, attractive greenish-yellow fruit with white flesh, good sugars and vitamin C
- The variety's genome now serves as India's reference guava genome for molecular-marker breeding work, underlining how widely used it is as breeding stock
- Parent stock of Lucknow-49 (Sardar), the higher-yielding, more wilt-tolerant variety many new orchards now prefer — itself a chance seedling selected from Allahabad Safeda
Things to consider
- It has no wilt protection. Guava wilt has wiped out many older Allahabad Safeda orchards in Uttar Pradesh, which is why Lucknow-49 took over new planting. Do not replant on land that has had wilt.
- Only Allahabad Surkha, the pink-fleshed guava, holds the Allahabad GI tag. Allahabad Safeda is white-fleshed and does not hold it, so do not sell it as the GI fruit.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Uttar Pradesh
- Bihar
- Madhya Pradesh
Safeda or Surkha: do not sell one under the other's name
Two different guavas carry the Allahabad name. Allahabad Safeda is white-fleshed and widely grown. Allahabad Surkha is pink-fleshed and holds the official GI tag (2007–08). Safeda does not.
If a buyer asks for the GI guava, check the flesh before you agree. Pink flesh is Surkha. White flesh is Safeda, and you should sell it as Safeda.
If you buy plants, say which one you want in writing on the bill. A nursery that says only "Allahabad guava" may mean either.
Where the planting material comes from
This variety is a grafted plant: the variety on top, joined onto a rootstock below. Seed out of its fruit will not come up as this variety, so it cannot be kept as seed. Buy grafted 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 Guava variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allahabad Safedathis page | A white-fleshed table guava for north Indian markets, on land that has never had guava wilt | Bearing from year 2–3 (grafted plant) | 150–200 q/ha at full bearing | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh |
| Chittidar | An old-orchard replant in Uttar Pradesh where wilt has been a problem and you still want an Allahabad-type fruit | Bearing from year 2–3 (grafted plant) | 130–160 q/ha at full bearing | Uttar Pradesh |
| Lalit | A firm, pink-fleshed guava for fresh sale and for processing, from a CISH release | Winter crop | High | Uttar Pradesh |
| Lucknow-49 (Sardar) | A higher-yielding, more wilt-tolerant replacement for Allahabad Safeda, for north Indian table-fruit orchards | Bearing from year 2–3 (grafted plant) | 180–220 q/ha at full bearing | Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana |
| Pant Prabhat | A regular-bearing, soft-seeded table guava bred at Pantnagar for Uttarakhand | Early winter | High | Uttarakhand |
| Taiwan Pink | An early-bearing pink-fleshed guava for premium and export markets, bought from a private nursery | Managed cropping | Very high | Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh |
| VNR Bihi | A jumbo, firm white-fleshed guava for premium and long-distance markets, from a private nursery | Managed cropping | Very high | Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh |
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 Guava is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Guava plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Guava variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Guava 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 Guava rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Guava seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Allahabad Safeda the same as the GI-tagged 'Allahabad' guava?
No — the guava that holds an official GI tag (since 2007–08) is 'Allahabad Surkha', a separate pink-fleshed variety. Allahabad Safeda is white-fleshed and, despite being the more widely grown commercial cultivar of the two, does not itself carry that GI protection.
Why did Lucknow-49 replace so much Allahabad Safeda planting?
Lucknow-49 (Sardar) arose in the 1920s as a chance seedling of Allahabad Safeda. It yields more reliably and tolerates guava wilt better. Wilt has wiped out many older Allahabad Safeda orchards, including some in Uttar Pradesh.
How can I tell Allahabad Safeda fruit from Lucknow-49?
Allahabad Safeda has smooth, round fruit with greenish-yellow skin and white flesh. Lucknow-49 has a rougher skin, creamy-white smooth flesh and larger fruit, and it bronzes more easily. Both run 10–12% TSS, so sweetness will not separate them. Look at the skin and the size.
Can I replant Allahabad Safeda on land where guava wilt has already killed trees?
It is best not to. This variety has no wilt protection, and the page's own disease note says to avoid replanting on wilt-affected land. On that land choose Lucknow-49, which is more wilt-tolerant, or Chittidar, which is reported hardier. Neither is wilt-proof.
Can I grow Allahabad Safeda from seed?
Not if you want fruit like the parent. Named guava varieties are multiplied by grafting or air layering, not by seed. Buy grafted or layered plants from a nursery that gives you a bill. Seed from a Safeda fruit gives plants that vary.
How much fruit does one Allahabad Safeda tree give?
One crop guide gives about 145 kg per tree, and the yield card here shows 150–200 q/ha at full bearing. Treat these as figures for a mature, well-kept orchard. A young tree gives much less. No figure is published for a single young tree.
When does a grafted Allahabad Safeda plant start giving fruit?
A grafted plant starts bearing from year 2–3. No per-tree figure is published for those early years, so do not budget for full yield in the first crops.
Sourced from: Development of Genome-Wide Functional Markers Using Draft Genome Assembly of Guava cv. Allahabad Safeda — PMC, ICAR-IIHR released varieties. editorial policy.