Golden Ball
A European open-pollinated variety with round, smooth roots, bright creamy-yellow skin and pale amber flesh of fine texture and flavour; a parent of Pusa Kanchan.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Turnip (Shalgam)
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- Rabi
- Maturity period
- 60–70 days
- Seed rate
- 2–3 kg an acre (about 5–7.5 kg/ha) per the PAU package; thin early to the spacing below
- Expected yield
- 20–25 t/ha in course notes
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No special resistance claimed; open-pollinated
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Golden Ball is a European (temperate) open-pollinated turnip, one of the oldest named types still sold. NHB describes perfectly globe-shaped, medium-sized, smooth roots with bright creamy-yellow skin and pale, amber-coloured flesh of fine texture and flavour, and a small, erect top with cut leaves. A course deck says it was bred at the IARI Regional Station, Katrain (Kullu Valley), and gives 200 to 250 quintals a hectare. It is a yellow-fleshed type, a class that matures slowly but holds dry matter and stores better than white-fleshed turnips. Like other European types it wants sustained cold weather, and TNAU puts the plains sowing at October to December.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Golden Ball for flavour and a yellow flesh, not for speed or yield. NHB describes perfectly globe-shaped, medium, smooth roots with bright creamy-yellow skin and pale amber flesh of fine texture and flavour. A course deck says it was bred at the IARI Regional Station, Katrain (Kullu Valley) and gives 200 to 250 quintals a hectare, below the 250 to 300 it gives Purple Top White Globe. It is also a parent of Pusa Kanchan (TNAU). Take Purple Top White Globe if yield matters most.
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeOctober to December in the northern plains; much of the growing season in the hills
- Seed rate2–3 kg an acre (about 5–7.5 kg/ha) per the PAU package; thin early to the spacing below
- SpacingRows 35–45 cm apart; plants thinned to 10–12 cm apart in the row
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Distinctively sweeter, milder flavour than white European turnip types.
- Reasonable storage life compared with Asiatic (desi) varieties.
Things to consider
- Needs sustained real cold weather to size up and flavour properly — not suited to an early, warm-soil sowing.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Himachal Pradesh
- Uttarakhand
- Uttar Pradesh
White flesh or yellow flesh: what the two classes of turnip mean
A course deck on turnip production sets out two classes. White-fleshed turnips are quick maturing, have low dry matter (7 to 8%), store less well, may be white, green, red or bronze at the top, and carry bright yellow flowers. Yellow-fleshed turnips are slower maturing, have higher dry matter (8 to 9%), store better, are green or purple topped, and carry buff-coloured flowers. Golden Ball is named in the deck as a yellow-topped, globe-type yellow-fleshed turnip.
In the deck's own list, Pusa Sweti, Pusa Chandrima, Snowball and Purple Top White Globe are white-fleshed types, while Golden Ball and Pusa Kanchan (creamy yellow flesh) are the yellow-fleshed ones. For a farmer, that means a yellow-fleshed variety trades speed for keeping quality: expect to wait longer and to be able to hold it longer. These are class patterns from one teaching deck, not measurements on Golden Ball.
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 Turnip (Shalgam) variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Maturity | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Ballthis page | Farmers and kitchen gardeners in cool areas who want a yellow-fleshed turnip with fine flavour, not the quickest or the biggest root | 60–70 days | 20–25 t/ha in course notes | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh |
| Punjab Safed-4 | Farmers in Punjab and Haryana who want a plain white early turnip and will ask the seller where the seed came from | Early maturing; days not published | No variety figure published | Punjab, Haryana |
| Purple Top White Globe | Hill farmers and late-sown plains farmers who want a large, firm globe turnip that keeps, and who can wait for real cold | 60–70 days | 25–30 t/ha | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh |
| Pusa Chandrima | Plains farmers who want a larger white turnip than Pusa Sweti and can wait 55 to 60 days for it | 55–60 days | 30–40 t/ha as reported; no trial found | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi |
| Pusa Kanchan | Farmers who want a red-skinned, creamy-yellow-fleshed turnip that can stand in the field a little longer without going spongy | 55–60 days | About 25 t/ha (250 quintals) in course notes | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi |
| Pusa Sweti | Plains farmers who want a quick, plain white desi turnip for the local fresh market and can match the sowing month to their own advice | 45–50 days | 20–30 t/ha | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana |
| Snowball | Farmers who want a quick, mild, near-white European turnip for a cool-season catch crop and will pull it young | 50–60 days | 25–30 t/ha in course notes | Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar 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 Turnip (Shalgam) is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Turnip (Shalgam) 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 Turnip (Shalgam) variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Turnip (Shalgam) into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop CalendarMonth-by-month sowing, weeding, irrigation and harvest dates for Turnip (Shalgam) in your state.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Turnip (Shalgam) rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Turnip (Shalgam) seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Golden Ball really yellow inside?
Pale. NHB and the TNAU lecture note both describe the skin as bright creamy yellow and the flesh as pale, amber-coloured and fine in texture, so expect cream to light amber rather than a deep yellow. If the roots in your lot are white inside, they are probably another variety.
Does Golden Ball keep better than a white turnip?
As a class, yes. A course deck says yellow-fleshed turnips are slow maturing, hold more dry matter (8 to 9%, against 7 to 8% for white-fleshed) and store better. TNAU gives 8 to 16 weeks at 0 degrees C and 90 to 95% humidity for turnips in general. We found no storage trial for Golden Ball itself, so use the class pattern as a guide and test a small lot before you plan to hold it for weeks.
How does Golden Ball compare with Purple Top White Globe?
A course deck puts Golden Ball at 200 to 250 quintals a hectare and Purple Top White Globe at 250 to 300 quintals and 60 to 65 days; the deck gives no days for Golden Ball. Purple Top is the heavier, larger-rooted choice (NHB), while Golden Ball is chosen for flesh colour and fine flavour. Both are open-pollinated European types that want cold weather, so the sowing month is the same: October to December in the plains (TNAU).
How is Golden Ball linked to Pusa Kanchan?
TNAU says Pusa Kanchan is a selection from a cross between Local Red Round, an Asiatic type, and Golden Ball, a European one. If you like the creamy-yellow flesh but need a plains crop that matures 55 to 60 days after sowing and can be sown from September (a course deck), Kanchan is the plains-adapted route. For hill or late-rabi sowing, Golden Ball itself is the pure type.
Sourced from: National Horticulture Board (NHB), turnip varieties sheet, TNAU eAgri, HORT281 lecture 29: Origin, area, production, varieties and package of practices for turnip, Turnip course slide deck (white-fleshed and yellow-fleshed classes, Katrain breeding, 200 to 250 q/ha; secondary source). editorial policy.