IISR Varada

IISR Varada was released in 1996 by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research at Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, as a straight selection out of the institute's germplasm collection, from accession number 64. It went on to become the most widely adopted improved ginger in India, planted across essentially every ginger-growing state, and it remains the reference variety in Indian trials and extension literature. Its appeal is versatility rather than a single headline trait: growers use the same crop for fresh ginger, for drying and for candy, and the dry ginger is reported to be less prone to storage insect damage than other varieties. Low crude fibre at around 4.5%, oleoresin near 6.7% and roughly 1.75 to 1.8% essential oil give it a balanced profile that suits all three markets, and Indian farmers generally regard it as tolerant of field disease pressure.