Swarna Alaukik
Developed at ICAR-RCER, Ranchi. Light greenish, unstriped fruit with soft flesh and soft seeds, suited to the table and to sweets. Named top for yield in two trials, and the one a Puri farmer found most preferred in the Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets.
Quick facts
- Type
- Vine/root cutting
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- First picking about 4–6 months after an October planting; fruits February to October (ICAR examples)
- Seed rate
- Vine cuttings. The Puri farmer bought 1,750 plants for one acre; the Ranchi mother block used 10,000 plants a hectare on a trellis. Keep one male plant for ten female plants
- Expected yield
- 25–30 t/ha average for the Swarna varieties (ICAR); 107 q from one acre at Puri, Odisha, in 2020
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No variety-specific disease record found
- Release
- Developed by the Farming Systems Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region, ICAR-RCER, Ranchi; release year not found
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Swarna Alaukik is one of three pointed gourd varieties developed by the Farming Systems Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region of ICAR-RCER at Ranchi, with Swarna Suruchi and Swarna Rekha. ICAR describes them as high yielding, averaging 25 to 30 t/ha, with soft seeds and soft flesh. Swarna Alaukik is light greenish without stripes, and ICAR calls it suitable for both table and sweet preparation. It is grown from vine cuttings, as pointed gourd must be. The plant is dioecious, so the trials keep one male plant for every ten female ones. We found no release year or notification.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Swarna Alaukik if you want the pointed gourd with the most evidence behind it. Two trials single it out for yield: the Bhubaneswar station of ICAR-IIHR recorded 10.21 kg a plant, the highest of 22 accessions, in 2008-10, and the 46-genotype trial at ICAR-RCER, Ranchi, in 2021-23 named it, with HAP-79 and HAP-70, among the promising lines for yield. A Puri farmer who grew it beside Swarna Rekha found it the most preferred in the markets of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, and on one acre in 2020 he picked 107 quintals. Know the limits: ICAR gives 25 to 30 t/ha as the average for all three Swarna varieties, not for this one alone, and the farm result came with a trellis, mulching and the centre's guidance.
Sowing & cultivation
- Seed rateVine cuttings. The Puri farmer bought 1,750 plants for one acre; the Ranchi mother block used 10,000 plants a hectare on a trellis. Keep one male plant for ten female plants
- Spacing1.5 x 1.5 m under a trellis with mulching (Puri, Odisha); 2 x 1 m in the Bhubaneswar trial
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- The highest yield per plant of 22 accessions at Bhubaneswar: 10.21 kg, against 9.57 kg for the next, CHPG 11.
- Named a promising line for yield by the Ranchi trial of 46 genotypes, and its group averaged 151 fruits a plant, the most of any cluster.
- Preferred in the Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets over the dark, thick-skinned, hard-seeded fruit the same farmer had grown before.
Things to consider
- The 25 to 30 t/ha figure is ICAR's average for the three Swarna varieties, not a figure for Alaukik alone.
- It is dioecious: without male plants in the field, fruit will not set, and plants have to be bought from a trusted source because cuttings cannot be told apart by sex before flowering.
- ICAR's farm results used a trellis, mulching and the centre's technical guidance; a rain-fed ground crop will not match them.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Jharkhand
- Odisha
- Bihar
One acre at Puri, in the farmer's own numbers
ICAR records the case of a farmer at Satyabadi block, Puri district, Odisha. He had grown a dark-coloured, thick-skinned, hard-seeded pointed gourd that sold badly. After a training at ICAR-RCER he planted Swarna Rekha and Swarna Alaukik in 2015 and found Alaukik the most preferred in the markets of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. After Cyclone Fani damaged his fields in 2018 he started again with Alaukik alone on one acre: 1,750 plants bought from the centre in October 2019, planted 1.5 x 1.5 m under a trellis with mulching.
He picked 107 quintals from February to August 2020, at an average price of Rs 50 and a high of Rs 180 from February. His net profit was Rs 3,37,310 on an investment of Rs 1,97,670. He then raised and sold 10,000 plants at Rs 20 each, which added Rs 2,00,000 of income and Rs 1,20,000 of profit. Check the arithmetic against your own costs: 107 quintals from one acre is about 26 t/ha, and the Rs 180 was the highest price, from February, so the Rs 50 average matters more for planning.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This crop is raised from cuttings, not from seed, so you can take your own planting material. Take cuttings only from healthy, well-grown plants that are true to the variety, and never from one that showed disease — a cutting carries its mother plant with it. Where a nursery or a government farm sells clean planting material, that is the safer start.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Pointed Gourd (Parwal) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faizabad Parwal-1 | Eastern Uttar Pradesh farmers whose local nursery stocks it; compare with a newer variety | Not published for this variety; ICAR examples for the Swarna varieties: first picking 4–6 months after an October planting | No variety figure published; ICAR-IIVR gives 230 q/ha for its Kashi varieties as a benchmark | Uttar Pradesh |
| Faizabad Parwal-4 | Uttar Pradesh farmers whose nursery stocks it; test it before planting a large block | Not published for this variety; ICAR examples for the Swarna varieties: first picking 4–6 months after an October planting | No variety figure published; ICAR-IIVR gives 230 q/ha for its Kashi varieties as a benchmark | Uttar Pradesh |
| Rajendra Parwal-1 | Bihar farmers whose local nursery stocks it and who can see the mother vines in fruit | Not published for this variety; ICAR examples for the Swarna varieties: first picking 4–6 months after an October planting | No variety figure published; ICAR gives 25–30 t/ha for the Swarna varieties as a benchmark | Bihar |
| Rajendra Parwal-2 | Bihar farmers who can verify the vines in fruit; compare it with a Swarna block | Not published for this variety; ICAR examples for the Swarna varieties: first picking 4–6 months after an October planting | No variety figure published; ICAR gives 25–30 t/ha for the Swarna varieties as a benchmark | Bihar |
| Swarna Alaukikthis page | Soft-seeded table and sweet-making fruit; eastern plateau and the Odisha coast | First picking about 4–6 months after an October planting; fruits February to October (ICAR examples) | 25–30 t/ha average for the Swarna varieties (ICAR); 107 q from one acre at Puri, Odisha, in 2020 | Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar |
| Swarna Rekha | Buyers who want a striped fruit; eastern plateau and Odisha | First picking about 4–6 months after an October planting; fruits February to October (ICAR examples) | 21.10 t/ha mean for Rekha with Suruchi in the 46-genotype Ranchi trial (2021-23); ICAR gives 25–30 t/ha for the three Swarna varieties | Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar |
| Swarna Suruchi | A plain light-green fruit from the Ranchi centre; ask for a trial block first | First picking about 4–6 months after an October planting; fruits February to October (ICAR examples) | 21.10 t/ha mean for Suruchi with Rekha in the 46-genotype Ranchi trial (2021-23); ICAR gives 25–30 t/ha for the three Swarna varieties | Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar |
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 Pointed Gourd (Parwal) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Pointed Gourd (Parwal) plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Pointed Gourd (Parwal) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Pointed Gourd (Parwal) 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 Pointed Gourd (Parwal) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Pointed Gourd (Parwal) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Swarna Alaukik better than Swarna Rekha?
No trial we found compares the two side by side. What exists is a farmer's experience in Puri, Odisha: after growing both from 2015, he found Alaukik the most preferred in the Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets and restarted with Alaukik alone after the 2018 cyclone. Rekha is the striped one; Alaukik is plain light green. ICAR gives one average yield, 25 to 30 t/ha, for all three Swarna varieties. If your market prefers striped fruit, grow Rekha; otherwise ask your buyer what he pays for each.
How many fruits and how many kilograms does one plant give?
In the Bhubaneswar trial of 22 accessions (2008-10, 2 x 1 m spacing), Swarna Alaukik gave 10.21 kg a plant, the highest. Across all accessions the range was 2.48 to 10.21 kg a plant, 79.86 to 502 fruits a plant and 14.31 to 37.98 g a fruit, so fruit number and fruit size trade off. In the Ranchi trial of 46 genotypes (summers of 2021-22 and 2022-23) Alaukik stood alone in its cluster, which averaged 23.73 t/ha of fruit and 151 fruits a plant, the most of any cluster; the cluster holding Swarna Rekha and Swarna Suruchi averaged 21.10 t/ha. Those are research-plot numbers, so expect less on a farm without a trellis and mulching.
Why does Alaukik need male plants, and how many?
Pointed gourd is dioecious: some plants carry only male flowers and some only female ones, and only female plants set fruit. The 2024 Ranchi paper says a ratio of 1 male to 10 female plants must be kept, and the Bhubaneswar trial used the same 10:1 ratio. A cutting cannot be sexed before it flowers, which is why planting stock must come from a source that knows which vines are female and which are male. Ask for the male cuttings separately and mark where you plant them.
What does a plant cost, and can I make my own planting material?
ICAR records two sale prices from farmer-entrepreneurs who bought mother plants from the Ranchi centre: Rs 15 a plant in Jharkhand (42,000 plants sold from 50,000 grown in a net house) and Rs 20 a plant in Odisha (10,000 plants). The Ranchi centre gave technical guidance for the mother block under a technology licence. Pointed gourd is propagated from vine cuttings, so you can multiply your own once you have healthy vines, but keep track of sex, because a block with the wrong ratio will not fruit well.
Sourced from: Shri Chandan Kumar Khuntia: a successful farmer-entrepreneur — ICAR (Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Rekha in Puri, Odisha), Shri Sachin Jha: a budding agri-entrepreneur — ICAR (ICAR-RCER, Ranchi; Swarna Alaukik, Suruchi, Rekha mother block), Genetic diversity in pointed gourd genotypes under eastern plateau and hill region — Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 94(7), 2024 (ICAR-RCER, Ranchi), Phenotypic diversity analysis in pointed gourd — Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 33-34, 2010-11 (CHES Bhubaneswar, ICAR-IIHR). editorial policy.