Himalaya

Himalaya is a CSIR-CIMAP menthol mint (Mentha arvensis) bred at Lucknow from a cross between two older CIMAP varieties, Gomti (MAH-9) and Kalka (HY-77); the US plant patent was filed on 22 April 1997. The oil carries about 78–82% menthol (around 80%) at about 0.7% oil content on fresh herb. In the breeder's trials it gave 257 kg of oil per hectare at Lucknow and 196 kg at Pantnagar in the first cut, and 187 and 88 kg in the second cut — clearly more than its parents — with an optimal first harvest around 10 May and a second around 20 July. The patent also reports better resistance than the parents to rust and Alternaria leaf blight, and stronger regrowth for the second cut. A study in southern India, in very different conditions, recorded only about 107 kg per hectare, so treat the higher figures as what is possible in the northern plains under good management, not a promise. Himalaya is also the parent line from which CIMAP's tissue-culture varieties Saksham, Kushal and Sambhav were derived.

Plant typeSucker (improved variety)
MaturityAbout 120–130 days (optimal first cut around 10 May from a February planting)
Yield potentialBreeder's trials: first cut 196–257 kg oil/ha, second cut 88–187 kg/ha (Pantnagar–Lucknow); about 107 kg/ha in a southern-India study
Disease resistanceReported resistant to rust and Alternaria leaf blight in the breeder's patent
SoilWell-drained, organic-matter-rich loam or sandy loam
SeasonZaid / summer

• Sowing timeMain February window (a full-season type — do not plant it very late)
• Seed rateAbout 400–450 kg of fresh suckers per hectare (roughly 160–180 kg per acre)
• SpacingRows 45–60 cm apart, suckers laid end to end (about 10 cm apart) in furrows 5–6 cm deep
• Sowing methodLay fresh, healthy suckers in moist furrows, cover lightly with soil and irrigate at once
• IrrigationA light irrigation at planting and a week later, then about every 10–12 days through the summer (roughly ten irrigations); stop about a week before each cut
• FertilizerAbout 120 kg N, 60 kg P₂O₅ and 40 kg K₂O per hectare with about 20 t FYM, the nitrogen split over three to four doses including one right after the first cut (NHB mint package)
• HarvestingIn the breeder's trials the best first cut was around 10 May and the second around 20 July; cut at full leaf on a sunny day and distil promptly

Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.

• Uttar Pradesh
• Uttarakhand
• Punjab
• Haryana

• CIM-Unnati

  CSIR-CIMAP menthol mint developed from the genotype MASP-19 and introduced around 2020 — reported to give about 20% more oil than the existing checks, with menthol near 74%.

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• CIM-Kranti

  CSIR-CIMAP cold- and frost-tolerant menthol mint (half-sib selection, released 2013) with about 80% menthol; stays green and grows through winter when other varieties die back, and gives 10–12% more oil than the best checks in the main summer crop.

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• Kosi

  CSIR-CIMAP menthol mint released in 1999 (about 80% menthol), a half-sib selection from HY-77 (Kalka); early-maturing, suited to later planting, and among the varieties with the most stable oil yield across years and sites.

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• Kushal

  CSIR-CIMAP menthol mint for late (April) transplanting, a tissue-culture somaclone of Himalaya (patent priority March 2003); about 77–78% menthol; tolerates waterlogging during sucker production; among the most stable oil yielders in multi-year trials.

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• Saksham

  CSIR-CIMAP high-menthol mint (about 82–87% menthol in the oil), a tissue-culture somaclone of Himalaya selected in menthol-laced medium (patent filed November 2000); early-maturing.

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• Desi Pudina (spearmint)

  The everyday local spearmint (Mentha spicata) multiplied from suckers or cuttings for the fresh-leaf pudina market — not a released variety. CIMAP spearmint cultivars (Arka, Neera, MSS-5) exist for oil.

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