Relative priorities

Considering the relative importance of the three crops, 73.84% of 10^th Five Year Plan Budget for the AICRP was allotted to coconut, while oil palm crop received 14.65% and palmyrah centres were allotted 11.51% of budget.

Achievements of AICRP on Palms at a glance

• In coconut, four cultivars and ten hybrids have been released based on their performance at different locations for commercial cultivation in the respective States.

• In addition to the released cultivars and hybrids, a few types are in the final stages of evaluation at different locations.   In the East Coast of Tamil Nadu, the WCT and Andaman Ordinary are performing well.  In the Maharashtra coast at Ratnagiri, Laccadive Ordinary, Pratap and Kerasankara have shown stable performance as suitable varieties of the tract.  At Ambajipeta, Philippines Ordinary is performing well.

• In West Bengal, Jamaica Tall and in Assam, Assam Green Tall (Kamrupa) are suggested for commercial cultivation.

• The hybrids showing promise in different centres include WCT x GBGD, COD x WCT and WCT x COD.

• Three arecanut cultivars were released for cultivation based on multilocation trials.

• Nutritional requirements for D x T hybrids for each agro-climatic zone have been worked out.

• Recommendation on biomass recycling within the system and the use of low cost technologies on lignin degrading fungi/use of epigeic earthworms were offered for commercial exploitation.

• Nutrient management techniques for littoral sandy soils of West Coast region have been standardized.

• Irrigation schedule based on evaporation demand (Eo) has been standardized for interior and coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Konkan coast of Maharashtra.

• Successful and economically viable coconut based cropping systems have been identified for different states.  In general, nut yield increased in mixed cropping compared with monocrop of coconut.  The net profit under Coconut Based Cropping Systems was reported between Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,65,000 per hectare.

• Plant protection packages for the management of basal stem rot, leaf eating caterpillar, red weevil and rhinoceros beetle have been developed.

• Fertilizer and irrigation requirements for oil palm in major states have been worked out.

• Promising germplasm types in palmyrah available in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu States were collected and a genebank has been established.

• Plant protection recommendation for the management of tuber rot disease of palmyrah has been developed.

Recommendations to be passed on to Extension System (Identified during Tenth Five Year Plan period)

 1.Coconut varieties/hybrids recommended for large scale cultivation in the respective region

• Ratnagiri  (Maharashtra):  Laccadive Ordinary (LO)

• Veppankulam (Tamil Nadu) :  COC x PHOT

• Aliyarnagar (Tamil Nadu):  Philippines Ordinary, WCT x COD, WCT x GBGD, COD x WCT - These hybrids/varieties  have already been released from CPCRI and hence these types can be recommended for the region.

• Kahikuchi (Assam):  MYD x WCT

2. Crop Management recommendations

• A fertilizer dose of 500:500:2000 gm NPK/palm/year is recommended for DxT hybrids in Assam State.

• 500:250:1000 gm NPK/palm/year is recommended for hybrid coconut in West Bengal state.

• 1000:500:2000 gm NPK/palm/year is recommended for hybrid coconut in  Maharashtra state.

• 1000:500:2000gm NPK/ palm/year is to be recommended for hybrid coconut in coastal Tamil Nadu.

• As a component of drip irrigation schedule,  in summer months, 65 litres of water/ palm/ day may be recommended for interior region in Tamil Nadu.

• A combination of 50% composted coir pith along with 50% recommended dose of fertilizers could be recommended as the INM package for interior Tamil Nadu region, coastal Andhra Pradesh and maidan tract of Karnataka.

3. Crop Protection recommendations

• Seed nut soaking in T. viride combined with soil application of neem cake to be popularized as a tuber rot disease management practice in palmyrah.

• While taking prophylactic spraying for bud rot disease in coconut, it is essential that the palmyrah palms available near the coconut field also are to be treated to prevent the incidence of bud rot disease.

New Research Projects/thrust areas of work proposed to be introduced

• Considerable variability exists in the local germplasm in different states. This has to be collected and conserved in the wake of their destruction due to crop diversification and urbanization. Hence survey and collection of local germplasm of coconut for evaluation and further utilization needs to be strengthened.

• Coconut hybridization programme should be on regional basis rather than testing the hybrids produced at the headquarters of the project.  The strategy should be to use a locally well adapted good yielder as female parent and a good combiner with profuse pollen bearing trait and genetically as divergent as possible as male parent.  Accordingly, a new hybrid evaluation trial is being initiated in seven centers.

• The nutritional trials involving major nutrients are to be restructured as integrated nutrient management experiments on coconut.

• Similarly, the drip irrigation experiment is to  be modified to include fertigation treatments.

• There exists excellent scope for diversification in the traditional intercrops/mixed crops cultivated with coconut. New initiative on introducing medicinal and aromatic plants, flowering and ornamental plants will transform the economy of the coconut farmer whose income sustainability is threatened due to uncertain prices of copra and nuts.

• Adequate thrust is to be given for strengthening our research efforts for evolving more effective biological control measures for the management of coconut pests and diseases.

• Certain leads have been obtained on evolving an integrated disease management package for the management of basal stem rot disease. The package needs further refinement to enhance its acceptability to farmers.

• A new hybrid evaluation trial is being initiated in oil palm with the careful selection of hybrids available at NRC for Oilpalm to achieve an yield potential target of 20 tonnes FFB/ha.

• Fertigation trials are to be initiated in oil palm crop for economizing the fertilizer and irrigation water requirements.

• Palmyrah is a poor man crop restricted to certain specific regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. Besides initiatives on germplasm assemblage, germplasm utilization programmes are to be initiated.

• “National Live Palmyrah Germplasm Repository” could be established at Killikulam and molecular characterization programme is to be initiated. The possibility of support from IPGRI under the scheme on  “Under  utilized country specific crops” is to be explored.

Physical and infrastructure facilities proposed to be developed

During the last two Biennial Workshops, about 50% of the on-going projects were recommended to be closed, as they were in operation for more than 15-30 years and enough inferences have already been drawn. In the place of the closed projects, new projects, that could be implemented with the existing facilities, are being initiated.

Adequate provision for strengthening the physical and infrastructure facilities especially for improving irrigation facilities in oil palm centres and for essential equipments for undertaking a few basic studies would be proposed during the 11^th Five Year Plan.  In addition, the scientists would also be encouraged to send proposals for funding under “Technology Mission on Coconut” being implemented by the Coconut Development Board and other external funding agencies for strengthening the research programmes at these Centres.

Expected outcome from these changes

The technology to be identified from the listed programmes would contribute substantially in enabling the country to improve its productivity of coconut, oil palm and palmyrah and bring down the costs of production of raw materials for use in the agro-based enterprises.