Ganesh
Raised from rooted cuttings, not true seed. The older Pune-bred standard that Bhagwa has been overtaking for its deeper rind colour — still grown where the local market pays for Ganesh’s softer seed.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Pomegranate
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- Bearing from year 2–3 (cutting-raised plant)
- Expected yield
- 120–150 q/ha at full bearing
- Suitable soil
- Sandy / light soil
- Release
- Selected 1932 from open-pollinated Alandi (wild/local pomegranate type) seedlings at the Ganeshkhind Fruit Experiment Station, Pune, by Dr G. S. Cheema; released commercially in 1936 as 'GBG-1', renamed 'Ganesh' in 1970.
About this variety
Ganesh traces to Dr G. S. Cheema's breeding work at the Ganeshkhind Fruit Experiment Station, Pune — described in multiple sources as the 'Father of Indian Horticulture'. In 1932 he selected promising open-pollinated seedlings from the local, wild Alandi pomegranate type; one seedling, originally numbered GBG-1, was released for commercial cultivation in 1936 and was renamed 'Ganesh' in 1970 as a more market-friendly name, per a directly-fetched Specialty Produce variety profile. A directly-fetched agri-blog cultivar table (aciagropomegranatecultivation) gives medium-round, smooth fruit with a yellow rind carrying a red tinge, pinkish soft-seeded arils, sweet juice, roughly 16.47% TSS, 0.42% acidity and an average fruit weight of about 325 g. The same directly-fetched PMC bacterial-blight screening study cited for Bhagwa and Arakta groups Ganesh — alongside Bhagwa, Arakta and Mridula — as one of India's most popular, highest-value pomegranate cultivars, but states none of the four carries any real resistance or tolerance to bacterial blight.
Key characteristics
Yield & maturity
Maturity period
Bearing from year 2–3 (cutting-raised plant)
Expected yield
120–150 q/ha at full bearing
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Softer aril and pinkish colour still command a following where the local market pays for that softness over Bhagwa's deeper rind colour, per this record's own note
- Long commercial track record — Maharashtra's dominant pomegranate cultivar for decades before Bhagwa's rise, still grown at meaningful scale
Things to consider
- The directly-fetched PMC screening study confirms Ganesh, like Bhagwa and Arakta, carries no real bacterial-blight resistance — grouped among India's most popular pomegranate cultivars that are all susceptible
- No fetchable source gives Ganesh's own blight-severity percentage the way Bhagwa's (58.11%) and Arakta's (44.49%) were individually measured in that same 149-accession trial
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
Frequently asked questions
Where does the name 'Ganesh' come from?
It wasn't the original name. Dr G. S. Cheema selected the plant from open-pollinated Alandi seedlings at Pune's Ganeshkhind Fruit Experiment Station in 1932 and released it commercially in 1936 under the working name 'GBG-1'; it was renamed 'Ganesh' — a more market-friendly name, and likely a nod to the Ganeshkhind station — only in 1970.
Is Ganesh more bacterial-blight tolerant than Bhagwa?
No source found gives Ganesh its own measured blight-severity figure, but a 149-accession ICAR screening study that did measure Bhagwa (58.11%) and Arakta (44.49%) explicitly groups Ganesh with both as lacking real resistance — so there's no basis to expect it does noticeably better.
Sourced from: Ganesh Pomegranates Information and Facts — Specialty Produce, Pomegranate Cultivation in India: Cultivars and Varieties, Differential gene responses in different varieties of pomegranate during the pathogenesis of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. punicae — PMC. editorial policy.