Purple Top White Globe
A long-established European (temperate) open-pollinated variety, widely sold by Indian seed companies, with a globe-shaped root — white below, purple-red where the shoulder is exposed to light — liked for its firm texture and sweeter flavour after cool weather.
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
- 25–30 t/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- No special resistance claimed; open-pollinated, seed can be saved
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Purple Top White Globe is a long-established European (temperate) heirloom turnip variety, sold as open-pollinated seed by numerous Indian seed companies for the hill and late-rabi market. Its globe-shaped root is white below ground and develops a purple-red shoulder where exposed to sunlight — the classic appearance most people picture when they think "turnip". Unlike an Asiatic type, it needs sustained real cold to size up properly and develop its characteristic firm texture and sweeter flavour; sown too early into warm soil it bolts or gives a poor, pithy root. It is the standard choice for the hill states and for a late-sown northern-plains crop grown specifically for its much better storage life than any Asiatic variety.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Purple Top White Globe when you will sow after the heat has gone and want a heavy, firm root. NHB calls it the most popular variety of the temperate group, a heavy-yielding, large-rooted cultivar with a purple upper part, creamy lower part and white, firm, crisp, mildly sweet flesh. A course deck says IARI introduced and recommended it, with 60 to 65 days and 250 to 300 quintals a hectare. In a 1999 to 2001 trial at Anand, Gujarat, it beat Snowball and Deshi Red on root yield and had higher sugar (TSS) and vitamin C. TNAU puts the plains sowing at October to December.
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeOctober to December in the northern plains (only once real cold has set in); 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
- Firm texture and sweeter flavour that develops fully in real cold weather.
- Considerably better storage life than any Asiatic (desi) turnip type.
- Open-pollinated — seed can be saved from a true-to-type root.
Things to consider
- Must not be sown into warm soil — it bolts to seed or gives a small, pithy root if sown too early.
- Takes longer to mature than an Asiatic type, so it is not suited to a quick catch-crop slot.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Himachal Pradesh
- Uttarakhand
- Jammu and Kashmir
- Uttar Pradesh
What the Anand sowing-date trial shows
The best field evidence for this variety is a thesis from Anand Agricultural University (Kumar, 2003) that grew Purple Top White Globe, Snowball and Deshi Red in middle Gujarat in the rabi seasons of 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Four sowing dates (20 October, 5 November, 20 November, 5 December) were crossed with three nitrogen levels (50, 75 and 100 kg N a hectare). Pooled root yield by date was about 392, 317, 259 and 195 quintals a hectare, so each fortnight of delay cost a large share of the crop.
On variety, Purple Top White Globe gave a pooled 325 quintals a hectare and was significantly better than the other two, with the highest sugar (TSS) and vitamin C. The best nitrogen level was 100 kg a hectare (about 355 quintals pooled), and the interactions between date, variety and nitrogen were not significant. The authors concluded Purple Top White Globe should be sown around 20 October with 100 kg N under middle Gujarat conditions. That is a loamy-sand site in Gujarat; Punjab, Bihar and the hills need their own dates.
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 Ball | 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 Globethis page | 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
How much does a late sowing cost in yield?
In the Anand (middle Gujarat) trial of 1999 to 2001, pooled yield for all three varieties fell with each later date: about 392 quintals a hectare for 20 October, 317 for 5 November, 259 for 20 November and 195 for 5 December. That is roughly half lost by early December. It is one location and the trial ran from 20 October to 5 December, so your best date will differ, but the pattern is clear: sow as soon as the cold arrives.
How much nitrogen is worth giving?
The Anand trial tried 50, 75 and 100 kg N a hectare; 100 kg gave the highest root yield, about 355 quintals a hectare pooled, and variety, date and nitrogen did not interact. PAU's package uses 25 kg N an acre, about 62 kg a hectare, and TNAU's lecture note says 70 to 100 kg N a hectare with 20 to 25 tonnes of farmyard manure. So 100 kg is the top of the sourced range; do not go above it, and split the nitrogen as TNAU advises.
Why did my roots turn pithy or tough?
Two common causes in the sources. PAU warns that a few days of delay in harvesting European types makes the roots pithy and unfit to eat, and TNAU says roots turn tough and fibrous if harvest is late, so harvest at 5 to 10 cm across. The other cause is heat: sown too early or in warm weather, a turnip bolts or turns fibrous and pungent. Boron, calcium and molybdenum shortages cause hollow stem and brown heart (TNAU).
How long will the roots store?
TNAU says harvested roots keep safely for 2 to 3 days under cool, moist conditions, and for 8 to 16 weeks at 0 degrees C with 90 to 95% relative humidity. A course deck adds that yellow-fleshed types store better than white-fleshed ones, and this variety is counted better-keeping than Asiatic types. The cold-store figure needs a cold room; we found no village-level storage trial for it, so do not promise a buyer weeks of shelf life without one.
Can I save Purple Top White Globe seed on the plains?
Usually not. TNAU says Asiatic turnips produce seed in the plains but European ones only in the hills, and this is a European type. The method is to dig true-to-type roots, trim the tip and plant them with a third of the crown showing, 60 x 60 cm apart in the hills, with 1,000 to 1,600 m isolation. On the plains, buy fresh seed each season from a state seed corporation, an ICAR institute or a trusted seller.
Sourced from: National Horticulture Board (NHB), turnip varieties sheet, TNAU eAgri, HORT281 lecture 29: Origin, area, production, varieties and package of practices for turnip, Effect of sowing time and nitrogen on growth, yield and quality of some cultivars of turnip under middle Gujarat conditions, AAU Anand thesis abstract (Kumar, 2003), KrishiKosh, PAU, Package of Practices for Cultivation of Vegetables 2021 (radish and turnip chapter), Turnip course slide deck (IARI introduction, 60 to 65 days, 250 to 300 q/ha; secondary source). editorial policy.