Ambili
A Kerala Agricultural University local favourite with soft, bright orange, sweet flesh well suited to curries and stews, popular in home gardens and local markets.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Pumpkin (Kaddu)
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- Zaid / summer
- Maturity period
- 95–110 days
- Expected yield
- 200–250 q/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No special resistance claimed
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Ambili is an open-pollinated pumpkin variety associated with Kerala Agricultural University and long popular as a local favourite in the state. Its fruit has soft, bright orange flesh with a sweet flavour that suits Kerala's curries and stews particularly well, and it is a common choice in home gardens and for the local fresh market rather than for long-distance trade or industrial processing.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Ambili if you cook or sell in Kerala and want soft, sweet, bright orange flesh for curries and stews. Kerala Agricultural University lists a medium, flat-round fruit of 4–6 kg. The yield card shows 200–250 q/ha, which is less than Arka Chandan (about 330 q/ha) or Pusa Vishwas (400–425 q/ha), so do not pick it for tonnage. It is open-pollinated, so seed can be saved. Choose Arka Suryamukhi if fruit fly is your main loss. Choose Arka Chandan if land is short and you want a compact plant.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Sweet, soft, bright orange flesh well suited to Kerala-style cooking
- A well-established local favourite in home gardens and local markets
Things to consider
- Lower yield (200–250 q/ha) than the heavier northern-plains varieties
- Best documented for Kerala's local growing conditions and market
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Kerala
Sell Ambili for taste, not for tonnage
At 200–250 q/ha, Ambili will not win a yield race against Pusa Vishwas or Arka Chandan. Its value is the soft, sweet, bright orange flesh that Kerala cooks like in curries and stews.
So build the plan around a buyer who pays for that, such as a home kitchen, a local hotel or a weekly market stall. Ask two or three of them what they pay for a pale, watery pumpkin and what they would pay for a sweet one.
Pick when the fruit turns from green to yellow and the stalk comes away easily, as TNAU advises for pumpkin in general. A fruit picked early will not have the sweetness you are selling.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This is an open-pollinated variety, so seed from a healthy crop of your own can be sown again. Keep seed only from disease-free plants, dry it properly, store it cool and dry, and bring in fresh certified seed every three to four years so the variety does not drift.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Pumpkin (Kaddu) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambilithis page | Sweet, soft-fleshed curry pumpkin for Kerala | 95–110 days | 200–250 q/ha | Kerala |
| Arka Chandan | Compact bush pumpkin for small plots | 115–120 days | ~330 q/ha | Karnataka, southern plains |
| Arka Suryamukhi | Fruit-fly-tolerant pumpkin for the south | 100–110 days | ~340 q/ha | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh |
| CO 2 | TNAU standard pumpkin for Tamil Nadu | 135 days | 23–25 t/ha | Tamil Nadu |
| Kashi Harit | Early short-vine pumpkin for green-fruit sale | About 65 days of crop duration | 300–350 q/ha | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand |
| Pumpkin F1 Hybrid (private companies, e.g. "Amol") | Early private F1 hybrid, claims not independently verified | 85–90 days | Claimed by the seller; not independently verified | sold pan-India through seed dealers |
| Pusa Vishwas | Heavy-yield golden-fleshed pumpkin, about 120 days, many states | About 120 days | 400–425 q/ha | Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, 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 Pumpkin (Kaddu) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Pumpkin (Kaddu) plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Germination CalculatorTest 100 seeds from the bag before sowing and see whether the lot is fit to sow.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Pumpkin (Kaddu) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Pumpkin (Kaddu) into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Pumpkin (Kaddu) in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Pumpkin (Kaddu) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Pumpkin (Kaddu) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I grow Ambili outside Kerala?
Nothing stops you, but there is no trial result from outside Kerala. It is best known as a Kerala home-garden and local-market pumpkin. Sow a small strip first, cook a few fruits, and only then plant a bigger block.
How heavy is an Ambili fruit?
Kerala Agricultural University lists medium-sized, flat-round fruit of 4–6 kg. That is a lot for one family, so ask local shops and neighbours whether they want it by the piece or cut.
Can I save Ambili seed?
Yes, it is open-pollinated. Take seed from a fully ripe, healthy fruit that looks typical. Pumpkin flowers cross with other pumpkins nearby, so keep your seed plot away from other pumpkin varieties.
Ambili or Arka Suryamukhi for Kerala?
Arka Suryamukhi is tolerant of fruit fly and the yield card shows about 340 q/ha against 200–250 q/ha for Ambili. Its fruit is small and flat-round. Ambili has the softer, sweeter cooking name. If fruit fly keeps ruining your fruit, go for Arka Suryamukhi. If you sell for taste in local markets, try Ambili.
How much seed does a hectare of pumpkin need?
No Ambili-specific figure is published. TNAU's general pumpkin guide gives about 1 kg of seed per hectare, pits 2 m × 2 m apart, thinned to two plants per pit after 15 days. Use it as a starting point, not a rule for this variety.
Sourced from: Kerala Agricultural University (CELKAU) — Pumpkin varieties. editorial policy.