Swarna Rekha
Developed at ICAR-RCER, Ranchi. The striped one of the three Swarna varieties, with soft seeds and soft flesh. A Puri farmer who grew it beside Swarna Alaukik found the market preferred Alaukik.
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, with one male plant for ten female plants. The ICAR farm examples used 1,750 plants an acre (1.5 x 1.5 m) and 10,000 plants a hectare on a trellis
- Expected yield
- 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
- 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 Rekha is the striped pointed gourd among the three varieties developed by the Farming Systems Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region of ICAR-RCER at Ranchi. ICAR describes the three Swarna varieties as high yielding, averaging 25 to 30 t/ha, with soft seeds and soft flesh, and says Rekha is striped while Alaukik and Suruchi are light greenish without stripes. It is grown from vine cuttings, with one male plant for ten female plants. A 2022 thesis at Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, studied the storage quality of 12 pointed gourd genotypes that included Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Rekha. We found no release year or notification for Rekha.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Swarna Rekha if your buyers ask for a striped pointed gourd and you want the same ICAR source as Swarna Alaukik. ICAR says it is the striped variety of the three Swarna releases, with soft seeds and soft flesh, and that the three average 25 to 30 t/ha together. After that, the evidence thins. The only farm record we found has a Puri farmer growing Rekha and Alaukik from 2015 and finding Alaukik the most preferred in the Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets, so he went on with Alaukik alone. The 2024 Ranchi trial of 46 genotypes named Alaukik, not Rekha, among the promising lines. If you have no market asking for stripes, Alaukik is the better-documented choice.
Sowing & cultivation
- Seed rateVine cuttings, with one male plant for ten female plants. The ICAR farm examples used 1,750 plants an acre (1.5 x 1.5 m) and 10,000 plants a hectare on a trellis
- Spacing1.5 x 1.5 m under a trellis with mulching, as in the ICAR Puri example
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- The striped fruit, easy to tell from the plain Alaukik and Suruchi.
- Soft seeds and soft flesh, as ICAR describes the Swarna group.
- From the same ICAR centre as Alaukik, so mother plants and technical guidance come from one place.
Things to consider
- Less evidence than Alaukik: the Ranchi trial put Rekha and Suruchi in one cluster averaging 21.10 t/ha, below Alaukik's 23.73, and the Puri farmer preferred Alaukik.
- The 25 to 30 t/ha figure is ICAR's average for all three Swarna varieties, not for Rekha alone.
- No published storage or shelf-life figure for Rekha; ask your buyer how long he can hold it.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Jharkhand
- Odisha
- Bihar
Striped or plain: what two farmers found
ICAR has two farmer cases for the Swarna varieties, and they point the same way on colour. At Puri, Odisha, the farmer grew Rekha and Alaukik from 2015 and found Alaukik, the plain one, the most preferred in the Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack markets. At Ranchi, Jharkhand, the entrepreneur kept a mother block of all three varieties on one hectare with 10,000 plants on a vertical trellis, and sold his plants to farmers in Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand. ICAR does not say how many of his plants were Rekha.
So the stripe is a market question, not a quality one. Before you buy plants, take a few fruits of each to the buyer, a wholesaler or the local mandi, and ask what he would pay. Buy Rekha plants only if a buyer asks for stripes or you want to spread risk across two looks. Keep Rekha and Alaukik in separate blocks, with their male plants marked, so that you do not lose track of which cutting came from which vine.
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 Alaukik | 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 Rekhathis page | 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
How do I tell Swarna Rekha from Swarna Alaukik and Suruchi?
By the stripe. ICAR says Swarna Rekha is the striped variety, while Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Suruchi are light greenish without stripes and suitable for table and sweet preparation. All three are elongated pointed gourds with soft seeds and soft flesh. ICAR gives no other trait that tells them apart, and the plants look alike before fruiting. Keep each variety in its own block and tag the vines, because a mixed planting cannot be sorted out later.
Does Swarna Rekha keep better after picking?
We found no published storage figure that says so. Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, studied the post-harvest quality of 12 pointed gourd genotypes, including Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Rekha, in a 2022 thesis, but the record we could read gives no per-variety shelf-life result. Pointed gourd in general loses weight quickly after picking. Sort and pack the day you pick, keep the fruit in shade, and ask your buyer how many days he can hold stock before you rely on any claim about Rekha.
Where can I get Swarna Rekha planting material?
ICAR's Ranchi centre (the Farming Systems Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region) developed the three Swarna varieties and supplied mother plants to farmer-entrepreneurs under technology licences. Two of them have sold plants: Rs 15 a plant in Jharkhand and Rs 20 a plant in Odisha. The Jharkhand Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative also picked one of them for demonstrations in eleven districts, with 20 demonstrations in each district. Ask the Ranchi centre or your KVK for current sources.
How much will Swarna Rekha yield?
There is no published yield for Rekha on its own. In the 46-genotype Ranchi trial (2021-23) Rekha and Suruchi sat in one cluster that averaged 21.10 t/ha, against 23.73 for Alaukik. ICAR gives 25 to 30 t/ha as the average of the three Swarna varieties together. The two farm records are for Alaukik (107 quintals from one acre at Puri in 2020) and for a mixed one-hectare mother block at Ranchi (18 tonnes in its first year, at 10,000 plants a hectare on a trellis). Use 18 t/ha as a cautious planning figure for a first year with a trellis, and note your own picking weights to build your own number.
Sourced from: Shri Sachin Jha: a budding agri-entrepreneur — ICAR (ICAR-RCER, Ranchi; Swarna Alaukik, Suruchi, Rekha mother block), Shri Chandan Kumar Khuntia: a successful farmer-entrepreneur — ICAR (Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Rekha in Puri, Odisha), Genetic diversity in pointed gourd genotypes under eastern plateau and hill region — Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 94(7), 2024 (ICAR-RCER, Ranchi), Evaluation of post harvest quality of pointed gourd genotypes during storage — thesis record, Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, 2022, Phenotypic diversity analysis in pointed gourd — Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 33-34, 2010-11 (CHES Bhubaneswar, ICAR-IIHR). editorial policy.