Pusa Bedana
An IARI triploid seedless watermelon — round to oval fruit with pink-red, seedless flesh, grown for the premium urban market. It needs a normal (diploid) variety planted alongside as a pollen source to set fruit.
Quick facts
- Type
- Triploid seedless (needs a pollenizer)
- Season
- Zaid / summer
- Maturity period
- First harvest ~95–100 days
- Expected yield
- 25–35 t/ha
- Suitable soil
- Sandy / light soil
- Release
- Released by ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi
About this variety
Pusa Bedana is a triploid (seedless) watermelon from ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, bred for the premium urban fresh market where seedless fruit fetches a higher price. The flesh is pink-red and free of hard seeds. Because a triploid produces no viable pollen of its own, a normal diploid variety must be interplanted — roughly one row in four, or one plant in three — as a pollen source, or almost no fruit will set. It matures at about 95–100 days and its seed, which is expensive, is bought fresh each year.
Key characteristics
Yield & maturity
Maturity period
First harvest ~95–100 days
Expected yield
25–35 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
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Seedless flesh — a genuine premium in the urban fresh market
- Pink-red, sweet flesh; good consumer appeal
Things to consider
- Needs a diploid pollenizer variety interplanted (about 1 row in 4) or fruit will not set — a real planning and management requirement
- Triploid seed is expensive and germinates fussily; it is often raised as transplants
- No special disease resistance; hybrid seed bought fresh each year
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Delhi
- Punjab
- Haryana
- Uttar Pradesh
- Maharashtra