Swarna Suruchi
Developed at ICAR-RCER, Ranchi. Light greenish, unstriped fruit with soft flesh and seeds, suited to the table and to sweets. The least documented of the three Swarna varieties: ICAR gives it no separate yield, and the Ranchi trial reports it only together with Rekha.
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 Ranchi mother block used 10,000 plants a hectare on a vertical trellis
- Expected yield
- 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
- 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 Suruchi is the third of the pointed gourd varieties developed by the Farming Systems Research Centre for Hill and Plateau Region of ICAR-RCER at Ranchi, with Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Rekha. ICAR calls the three high yielding, averaging 25 to 30 t/ha, with soft seeds and soft flesh. Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Suruchi are light greenish without stripes and suitable for both table and sweet preparation, while Swarna Rekha is striped. We found no release year, trial or yield figure for Suruchi on its own. The Ranchi mother block that ICAR describes held all three varieties.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Swarna Suruchi if your plant source offers it with a named mother field and you want a plain light-green fruit like Alaukik. ICAR describes it as one of three high-yielding Swarna varieties from its Ranchi centre, with soft seeds and soft flesh, light greenish without stripes, suitable for table and sweet preparation. Beyond that description, we found no trial, yield figure or farmer record for Suruchi alone: the Bhubaneswar trial and the Ranchi 46-genotype trial name Alaukik, and the farmer case at Puri names Alaukik and Rekha. If you cannot get documented Alaukik plants, plant a trial strip of Suruchi beside another variety and compare weights over a full season.
Sowing & cultivation
- Seed rateVine cuttings, with one male plant for ten female plants. The ICAR Ranchi mother block used 10,000 plants a hectare on a vertical trellis
- SpacingVertical trellis at the Ranchi mother block (10,000 plants a hectare); 1.5 x 1.5 m in the Puri example
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Plain light-green, unstriped fruit with soft seeds and soft flesh, suited to the table and to sweets (ICAR).
- From the same Ranchi centre as Alaukik, which has the strongest evidence of the three.
Things to consider
- No yield or farmer record for Suruchi alone: the Ranchi trial gives 21.10 t/ha for Suruchi and Rekha together, and 25 to 30 t/ha is ICAR's average for the three Swarna varieties.
- It looks like Alaukik, so mixed planting stock is hard to catch; keep varieties in separate, tagged blocks.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Jharkhand
- Odisha
- Bihar
What 10,000 plants made at the Ranchi mother block
ICAR describes an entrepreneur at Anandi village, Oromanjhi block, Ranchi, who leased 25 acres in 2021 and set up a mother block of the Centre's three varieties, Swarna Alaukik, Suruchi and Rekha, in October 2021: one hectare, 10,000 plants, on a vertical trellis. Picking began around April and ran to October, and the first year gave 18 tonnes from the hectare at prices from Rs 35 to Rs 120, averaging Rs 40. His gross income from fruit was Rs 7,50,000. The item does not say which variety gave what share.
In the second year he put up a net house to multiply the vines and grew about 50,000 new plants. He used 8,000 to extend the mother block over another 2 acres and sold the other 42,000 plants to farmers in Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand at Rs 15 each, for Rs 6,30,000. So the plants brought in nearly as much as the fruit. As a planner, note that 18 t from 10,000 plants is 1.8 kg a plant in a first year, far below the 10 kg a plant of the best Bhubaneswar accession, because yield per plant rises as the vine matures.
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 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 Suruchithis page | 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
What is the difference between Swarna Suruchi and Swarna Alaukik?
ICAR describes both the same way: light greenish without stripes, suitable for table and sweet preparation, with soft seeds and soft flesh. We found no published trait that separates them, and no trial that compares them. Where they differ is in the evidence: Alaukik was the top-yielding variety in the Bhubaneswar trial and a promising line in the Ranchi trial, and a Puri farmer chose it for the market. Suruchi has neither. Treat Suruchi as a sister to test, not as a proven substitute.
Is pointed gourd really used for sweets?
Yes. ICAR describes Swarna Alaukik and Swarna Suruchi as suitable for both table and sweet preparation, and the 2024 Ranchi paper says the tender fruits, leaves and shoot tips are used in roasting, pickling and desserts. Sweet-makers usually want a soft-seeded, pale, firm fruit, which is the point of these varieties. If you want to supply a sweet shop, take a sample of the fruit and ask for the required size and the price before you plant a large block.
How much should I plan to earn from a hectare in the first year?
ICAR's Ranchi example gives the cautious end: 18 tonnes from one hectare in the first year, at an average price of Rs 40, for a gross of Rs 7,50,000, with 10,000 plants on a trellis. The Puri example gives the higher end: 107 quintals from one acre at an average Rs 50, with a net profit of Rs 3,37,310 on an outlay of Rs 1,97,670. Neither names Suruchi. Both depend on a trellis, a market that pays for soft, light-green fruit and the centre's guidance, so work out your own costs first.
How long will one planting of Suruchi last?
Pointed gourd is a perennial vine. The 2024 Ranchi paper says that after the first-year establishment, the plant rests through winter and then flowers and sets fruit again after dormancy ends, and ICAR's farm examples picked from February or April to August or October. The sources do not give the number of years a planting stays profitable for Suruchi. Keep notes of each year's weights, and renew the block with fresh cuttings when yield per plant falls.
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), Phenotypic diversity analysis in pointed gourd — Cucurbit Genetics Cooperative Report 33-34, 2010-11 (CHES Bhubaneswar, ICAR-IIHR). editorial policy.