Pusa Ruby
Open-pollinated, so a farmer can save true-to-type seed from a good plant — the trade-off is carrying no disease resistance into a bad whitefly year.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Tomato
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- All seasons
- Maturity period
- 60–70 days from transplanting
- Seed rate
- 300–350 g per hectare as an open-pollinated variety
- Expected yield
- 200–250 q/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No built-in resistance — susceptible to bacterial wilt and leaf curl virus
- Release
- Released 1973 · ICAR-IARI, New Delhi · selection from cross Sioux × Improved Meeruti
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Pusa Ruby is an indeterminate, early-maturing tomato variety released in 1973 by ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, as a selection from the cross Sioux × Improved Meeruti. Its medium-sized, round, slightly lobed and ribbed fruits suit both the fresh market and processing. Because it responds unusually well to genetic transformation and has decades of documented characterisation behind it, Pusa Ruby has also become one of India’s standard reference genotypes for tomato biotechnology research.
Should you pick this variety?
Pick Pusa Ruby if you want an open-pollinated tomato whose true-to-type seed you can save, and fruit that sells fresh or goes to processing. It has been grown since its 1973 release. It is an indeterminate plant, so you must stake and prune it. It carries no resistance and is susceptible to bacterial wilt and leaf curl virus, so a bad whitefly year can hurt. Choose Arka Rakshak if leaf curl or wilt has hit your field. Arka Vikas gives a heavier crop (350–400 q/ha).
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeNursery in May–June or November–December
- Seed rate300–350 g per hectare as an open-pollinated variety
- Spacing60 x 45 cm on ridges
- Sowing methodPrepare the nursery bed with 10 kg farmyard manure, 1 kg neem cake and 100 g enriched superphosphate per square metre. Sow in lines 10 cm apart, cover with sand, and transplant at 25 days
- IrrigationLife irrigation on the third day, then weekly after the seedlings establish
Soil & climate
Soil
- Suitable soil
- Well-drained loam rich in organic matter
- pH
- 6.5–7.5
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- One of India’s oldest and most widely adapted tomato varieties, still grown decades after release
- Fruits suit both the fresh table market and processing, giving farmers flexibility on where to sell
Things to consider
- Indeterminate growth habit needs staking and ongoing pruning attention, unlike a compact determinate variety
- Bred before most modern disease-resistance work — it carries no built-in resistance, so protection depends entirely on the grower’s own spray schedule
- We found no official state-by-state recommendation for Pusa Ruby, so the states shown are only a guide. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra whether it suits your area before you buy seed.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Uttar Pradesh
- Bihar
- Madhya Pradesh
Staking and pruning an indeterminate tomato
Pusa Ruby keeps growing and keeps flowering, which is why it fruits over a long window — and why it cannot be left to lie on the ground like a compact determinate variety. Fruit touching wet soil rots, and a sprawling canopy stays damp and invites disease.
Put the stakes or the wire in before the plants need them, not after they have fallen over. Tie the main stem loosely every couple of weeks as it grows. Take off the lowest leaves once they touch the soil and thin out the crowded inner shoots so air and sunlight reach the fruit. It is more labour per plant than a determinate crop, and that labour is the real price of the long picking window.
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 Tomato variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arka Rakshak | Fields hit by leaf curl, wilt or early blight | 60–65 days from transplanting | 500–600 q/ha under good management | Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu |
| Arka Vikas | Open-pollinated tomato you can save seed from | 55–60 days from transplanting | 350–400 q/ha | Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu |
| Pusa Rubythis page | Cheap open-pollinated tomato for fresh market and processing | 60–70 days from transplanting | 200–250 q/ha | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh |
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 Tomato is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Tomato 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 Tomato variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Tomato into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Tomato in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Tomato rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Tomato seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Pusa Ruby used so often in tomato research studies?
It responds unusually well to Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation and tissue-culture regeneration, and decades of research have built up a large base of phenotypic and genomic reference data on it — that makes it a convenient standard genotype for lab studies, not necessarily the highest-yielding field choice today.
Does Pusa Ruby need staking?
Yes. It is an indeterminate variety, so it keeps growing and needs staking and regular pruning. A compact determinate variety like Arka Vikas needs less of this work.
Can I save Pusa Ruby seed?
Yes. Pusa Ruby is open-pollinated, so seed from a good, healthy plant grows true to type. You do not have to buy hybrid seed each season.
Will Pusa Ruby survive leaf curl virus?
No. Pusa Ruby carries no resistance to leaf curl virus or bacterial wilt. In a bad whitefly year you can lose much of the crop. If your field has had these problems, a resistant hybrid like Arka Rakshak is safer.
How much Pusa Ruby seed do I need, and how does that compare with a hybrid?
300–350 g per hectare, against 100–150 g for an F1 hybrid like Arka Rakshak. You buy more seed by weight, but open-pollinated seed costs far less per gram, and you can keep your own from this crop.
When will Pusa Ruby start picking?
About 60–70 days from transplanting, with the nursery sown in May–June or November–December. Plan your first picking from that date and line up labour, because tomato has to leave the field as it ripens, not when you are free.
Sourced from: Reference Guided De Novo Genome Assembly of Transformation Pliable Solanum lycopersicum cv. Pusa Ruby — PMC, Crop Production Guide (Horticulture), TNAU and Department of Horticulture, Tamil Nadu: tomato nursery bed preparation, seed rate, spacing, season and irrigation. editorial policy.