Urigam
A traditional Tamil Nadu type with very long pods and sweet pulp, named by TNAU as a preferred tamarind variety along with PKM 1.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Imli (Tamarind)
- Type
- Grafted local selection
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- Bears from year 4 (TNAU, tamarind in general)
- Expected yield
- No variety figure published; TNAU gives 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree for tamarind in general
- Suitable soil
- All soils
- Disease resistance
- Not published
- Release
- A traditional local variety of Tamil Nadu; not a station release
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Urigam is a traditional tamarind of Tamil Nadu. A lecture note from the College of Agriculture, Bikaner, describes it as a local variety with very long pods and sweet pulp. TNAU lists it second among its tamarind varieties, names it with PKM 1 as a preferred variety, and a review includes it among the Tamil Nadu selections made for yield and pulp. Because it is a local type and not a station release, there is no release year or release yield. It is multiplied by grafting, like the released varieties.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Urigam if you farm in Tamil Nadu and want to sell long pods with sweet pulp for eating, where TNAU names it a preferred variety along with PKM 1. It is a traditional type, not a station release, and we found no yield or pulp figure for it. If you sell deseeded pulp by weight to a processor, PKM-1 has the numbers (270 to 300 kg of pods a tree and 40% pulp in one lecture note). Taste a pod from the exact tree your graft will come from.
Sowing & cultivation
- Spacing8 to 10 m x 8 to 10 m for tamarind (TNAU), which is 156 to 100 trees a hectare.
- IrrigationWater once in 7 days after planting (TNAU).
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Very long pods and sweet pulp, which suit sale as a table fruit.
- Named by TNAU as a preferred variety for Tamil Nadu, with PKM 1.
Things to consider
- No yield, pulp share or disease figure was found.
- A local type has no release record, so two nurseries may sell slightly different trees under the name.
- Sweet pulp may suit eating better than processing; ask your buyer first.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Tamil Nadu
Before you plant: who will deseed the pods, and how many days will it take?
Tamarind money is made after the harvest. In the ICAR-IIHR Tumkur study, one person could shell and deseed 15 to 20 kg of pods a day and earned about Rs 400 a day (2020). Take TNAU's general crop of 15 to 20 t of pods from a hectare of 100 trees. By hand that is 750 to 1,333 days of work, because 15,000 kg divided by 20 is 750 and 20,000 kg divided by 15 is 1,333.
That arithmetic decides how you sell. You can sell whole dried pods and let the trader do the work. You can pay or use family labour to produce cleaned pulp, which the same study sold at Rs 1,500 for a 50 kg basket, with seed at Rs 17 a kg and shell chips at Rs 2.50 a kg. These are 2020 Tumkur prices for a different tree, so use them only to see the shape of the work, not as today's rates.
For a long-podded, sweet type like Urigam, ask your buyer which form he wants before you plant. If the answer is whole pods for eating, you save the deseeding days. If it is pulp, check how much pulp the tree gives before you choose it over PKM-1.
Where the planting material comes from
Tamarind is highly cross-pollinated and has long been grown from seed, so seedlings vary widely (ICAR-IIHR). Trees raised from the seed of a named variety will not come true. TNAU propagates tamarind by softwood grafting in March and April, or by air layering with IBA at 4000 ppm. Because Urigam is a local type with no release record, buy grafts from a nursery that names the mother tree.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Imli (Tamarind) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTS-1 | Sweet red pulp (Karnataka) | Bears from year 4 (TNAU, tamarind in general) | No variety figure published; TNAU gives 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree for tamarind in general | Karnataka |
| Goma Prateek | Dry west, semi-dwarf, regular | Flowers from year 4 (Indian Horticulture); CIAH quotes 58.50 kg of fruit a plant | 58.50 kg of fruit a plant (one source says in year 4, CIAH ties it to year 9) | Rajasthan, Gujarat |
| PKM-1 | Tamil Nadu tamarind belt | Bears from year 4; economic crop from year 9 (TNAU, tamarind in general) | TNAU: 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree a year for tamarind; a lecture note gives 270 to 300 kg for PKM-1 | Tamil Nadu |
| PKM-2 | Little data published | Not published for PKM-2; TNAU gives bearing from year 4 for tamarind in general | No variety figure published; TNAU gives 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree for tamarind in general | Tamil Nadu |
| Pratishthan | High pulp share, Maharashtra | Bears from year 4 (TNAU, tamarind in general) | Pulp share 61% in the release description, 49.8% measured in a 2026 comparison; no tree yield found | Maharashtra |
| Urigamthis page | Long pods, sweet pulp | Bears from year 4 (TNAU, tamarind in general) | No variety figure published; TNAU gives 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree for tamarind in general | Tamil Nadu |
| Yogeshwari | Red pulp, high yield | Bears from year 4 (TNAU, tamarind in general) | Described as a high-yielding type; no figure found | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
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 Imli (Tamarind) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Imli (Tamarind) plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Imli (Tamarind) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Imli (Tamarind) 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 Imli (Tamarind) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Imli (Tamarind) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Urigam a released variety?
No. A lecture note calls it a local variety, and we found no release notice. TNAU still lists it among its tamarind varieties and names it, with PKM 1, a preferred variety. That means it has a good name in the market, but there is no released yield to hold a nursery to.
Is Urigam sweeter than PKM-1?
The lecture note calls Urigam pulp sweet and does not describe PKM-1 pulp as sweet or sour. No lab figure compares them. All tamarind is sour-sweet because it holds both tartaric acid and sugars, so taste a pod from each parent tree before you decide.
How much will a hectare of Urigam give?
There is no Urigam figure. TNAU gives 150 to 200 kg of pods a tree a year for tamarind in general. At 8 to 10 m spacing that is 100 to 156 trees, so roughly 15 to 31 t of pods a hectare from full-grown trees, which TNAU places at the 9th year onward. Plan lower for the first years.
What can I grow between young Urigam trees?
TNAU allows leguminous crops, short-duration vegetables, annual drumstick, sesame and sorghum in the alleys for up to 4 years. Keep the crop away from the graft, water the trees once in 7 days after planting, and remove sprouts that come from the rootstock.
When should I graft or buy grafts?
TNAU does softwood grafting in March and April, and plants grafts from June to December in pits of 1 x 1 x 1 m. So order your grafts in the first months of the year, collect them in time for the rains, and ask the nursery which tree the scions came from.
Sourced from: Tamarind — TNAU Agritech Portal (horticulture, spice crops), Tamarind (varieties and cultivation) — College of Agriculture, Bikaner, lecture note, A promising new tamarind selection, Lakshamana — Journal of Horticultural Sciences 15(2), 2020 (ICAR-IIHR). editorial policy.