Mridula
A soft-seeded, dark-red-ariled selection valued for eating quality.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Pomegranate
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- ~180 days
- Expected yield
- High
- Suitable soil
- Sandy / light soil
- Disease resistance
- Moderate
- Release
- Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri, Maharashtra. A seedling selection from the Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red F2 population, the same family that gave Bhagwa and Arakta. The release year is not published.
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Mridula was developed at Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri, Maharashtra, by seedling selection from an open-pollinated F2 population of the Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red cross. That is the same parent family as Bhagwa and Arakta, bred at MPKV Rahuri's Horticultural Research Station. It is valued for soft, dark-red arils and good eating quality, and it is grown commercially in Maharashtra.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Mridula if you sell as table fruit and want soft-seeded, dark-red arils with good eating quality, from a state agricultural university (MPKV Rahuri). It ripens in about 180 days, like Bhagwa. The catch is that there is no published yield figure, no blight severity number and no release year for it, and Mridula is among the cultivars the blight screening found without real resistance. Choose Bhagwa if you want the export price and a proven market. Choose Arakta if you want an earlier crop (130–140 days).
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Things to consider
- Mridula comes from the same Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red breeding population as Bhagwa and Arakta. It is a sibling selection, not an independently bred variety, so do not expect a different disease story.
- The blight screening of 149 accessions names Mridula among the cultivars with no real resistance, but it gives no separate severity figure for Mridula. Treat it as blight-prone.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
- Karnataka
Same parents as Bhagwa, so plan for the same blight
Mridula, Bhagwa and Arakta all come from one Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red population. The one thing that separates Mridula is eating quality: soft seeds and dark-red arils.
Do not read that as a different disease story. The blight screening grouped Mridula with Bhagwa, Arakta and Ganesh as having no real resistance. Put the same spray programme in your cost sheet that you would for Bhagwa.
A good way to start is a trial row beside your main variety. Pick fruit from both on the same day, and ask your buyer which one they would pay more for.
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 Pomegranate variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arakta | An earlier-ripening, drought-tolerant pomegranate with somewhat less bacterial blight than Bhagwa, for sandy soils in Maharashtra and Karnataka | Bearing from year 2–3 (cutting-raised plant) | 130–160 q/ha at full bearing | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
| Bhagwa | A saffron-rind, dark-crimson, soft-seeded pomegranate for export and premium buyers, for farmers ready to run a blight spray programme | Bearing from year 2–3 (grafted/cutting-raised plant) | 150–200 q/ha at full bearing | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat |
| Ganesh | A soft-seeded, pinkish-aril pomegranate for Maharashtra markets that still pay for softness over rind colour | Bearing from year 2–3 (cutting-raised plant) | 120–150 q/ha at full bearing | Maharashtra |
| Mridulathis page | A soft-seeded, dark-red-aril pomegranate valued for eating quality, for Maharashtra farmers who sell as table fruit | ~180 days | High | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
| Ruby | A multiple-cross IIHR pomegranate bred for aril colour and mellow seeds, for Karnataka and Maharashtra | ~180 days | High | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
| Solapur Lal | A 2022 ICAR-NRCP biofortified hybrid for Maharashtra, for table and processing use, ripening 15–20 days before Bhagwa | 160–165 days | High | Maharashtra |
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 Pomegranate is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Pomegranate plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Pomegranate variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Pomegranate 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 Pomegranate rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Pomegranate seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Who developed Mridula pomegranate?
Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri, Maharashtra, through seedling selection from an open-pollinated F2 population of the Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red cross.
How is Mridula related to Bhagwa and Arakta?
All three share the same parental cross, Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red, bred at MPKV Rahuri's Horticultural Research Station — Mridula is a sibling selection from that same breeding population, not a separately bred variety.
What makes Mridula's arils special?
They are soft-seeded and dark red, valued for good eating quality — traits that make this cultivar a table-fruit favourite.
Is Mridula grown outside Maharashtra?
The state list here also shows Karnataka, but the sources confirm only Maharashtra. Karnataka is plausible, not confirmed. If you farm in Karnataka, start with a small block.
Is Mridula an ICAR-NRCP release?
No. It was bred at MPKV Rahuri, a state agricultural university, not at ICAR-NRCP Solapur. NRCP was set up only in 2005, and its own varieties are newer hybrids such as Solapur Lal.
Mridula or Bhagwa for table fruit?
Mridula is valued for soft, dark-red arils and good eating quality. Bhagwa has bigger fruit (405–420 g), a saffron rind and the export price. No weight or price figure is published for Mridula here. If your buyers are local table-fruit shoppers, Mridula is worth a trial row. For exporters, Bhagwa is the known name.
How long does Mridula take to ripen?
About 180 days, close to Bhagwa's 180–190 days. Arakta is earlier, at 130–140 days from fruit to harvest. Count from the date each tree sets fruit, and keep your own dates for a few seasons.
Does Mridula get bacterial blight?
Treat it as blight-prone. The 149-accession screening names Mridula, with Bhagwa, Arakta and Ganesh, as having no real resistance. No separate severity figure is published for Mridula, so plan on the same spray routine you would use for Bhagwa.
What do I know about Mridula's release year?
Nothing firm. Sources agree it was selected at MPKV Rahuri from the Ganesh × Gul-e-Shah Red F2 population, but no release year is published. Do not quote a year to a buyer or a nursery.
How do I make sure my Mridula plants are the real thing?
Mridula looks much like its siblings when it is young, so ask the nursery for a bill that names Mridula and for the mother block it was cut from. Visit a fruiting plant of the same lot if you can and check for soft seeds and dark-red arils.