Snowball
A fast-maturing European open-pollinated variety with small, smooth, pure white round roots and a mild flavour, harvested young for the freshest, most tender eating quality.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Turnip (Shalgam)
- Type
- Open-pollinated
- Season
- Rabi
- Maturity period
- 50–60 days
- Seed rate
- 3–4 kg/ha
- Expected yield
- 18–22 t/ha
- Suitable soil
- Loam
About this variety
Snowball is a European (temperate) open-pollinated turnip variety notable for maturing faster than most other European types, typically ready within 50–60 days rather than the 60–70+ days many temperate varieties need. Its roots are small, smooth-skinned, pure white and round, with a mild flavour best enjoyed when the fruit is pulled young and tender rather than left to grow large. This makes it a useful quick catch crop in genuinely cool weather — in the hills, or in a late-rabi plains window — for growers who want a European-type turnip without the longer wait most temperate varieties demand.
Key characteristics
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeOctober to December in the northern plains; a cool-season sowing in the hills
- Seed rate3–4 kg/ha
- SpacingRows 30–35 cm apart; plants thinned to 8–10 cm apart in the row
Yield & maturity
Maturity period
50–60 days
Expected yield
18–22 t/ha
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
Pest & disease considerations
Major diseases
- No special resistance claimed; open-pollinated
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Matures faster than most European turnip types while still needing real cold weather.
- Small, tender roots with mild flavour when picked young.
Things to consider
- Best picked young — roots left to grow large lose the tender quality the variety is valued for.
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