5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Transcription

1 . SUMMARY AND CONCUSION

2 - "... Summa y and Conclusion Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera inn.) is considered as the tree of life and is reverently eulogized as Kalpavriksha, the all giving tree or the Tree of Heaven. The crop is gaining more significance of late due to its multifarious utility to human beings. The major coconut growing state in the country is Kerala where the most popular variety grown by the farmers is West -.,- Coast Tall coconut. In addition dwarfs like Chowghat Orange Dwarf (COD),.-. Chowghat Green Dwarf (CGD) and different high yielding genetically.... superior palms of different ecotypes are also grown, but are sparsely distributed. Such ecotypes valued by farmers for their superior yield characteristics are Kutti yadi Tall, King Coconut, Elite Tall, Jappanan, _ ,. -. I.... -, Komadan,... King Coconut etc. Most of these ecotypes, in spite of their -., _ (".-.." - - superiority performance, have not been utilized for the crop improvement studies. In order to make use of these ecotypes as major.",-.. _ * - * ', A resource base in the crop improvement studies in the country, a study was - -. '..,..,. -..., undertaken to assess their economic traits in comparison with that of the -7- _.I _...-, West Coast Tall cultivar grown in respective areas. Ecotypes were identified through farmers participatory survey conducted in nine Panchayats covering the northern, central and southern regions..

3 b Northern Region. Udma panchayat (Kasargod district). Vanimal panchayat (Kozhikode district). Thiruvambadi (Kozhikode district) Central Region. Vechoor panchayat (Kottayam district). Chottanikkara panchayat (Emakulam district). Cliazhoor (Trichur district) Southern Region. Thazhava panchayat (Quilon district). Pathiyoor panchayat (Alleppey district). Vellanad (Trivandrurn district) For recording the opinion of the farmers an interaction schedules (questionnaire) were designed (Annexure I and ). The number of farmers participants ranged from 0 to 0 at each centre. From the discussion points on the cultivars and varieties grown and their performance it was concluded that the most popular variety grown by Kerala farmers is Tall and the cultivar is West Coast Tall (WCT). It occupies 9% of the total area under coconut. Besides, ecotypes namely Komadan, Kuttiyadi Tall, Jappanan, King Coconut and dwarf cultivars, viz. Chowghat Green Dwarf (CGD), Chowghat Orange Dwarf (COD) and hybrids like TxD, DxT and Natural

4 -I Cross Progenies of Dwarf (NCD) are rarely grown. Among the ecotypes the participants held very high opinion on Komadan, Kuttiyadi Tall..<.., and, Jappanan with the former two ecotypes having larger spread than the latter - one. Komadan has been treated as good as or better than the WCT in product*, ,,.,. -. kernel quality, toddy yield and fibre output. Similarly _- -_. - <- -, ", - d l. -. Kuttiyadi tall -.. serves as the..-. source.,-.. of ecotype. is,. planting-material., *, ,..,- for othe_r_plaes, This indicated.-_-. to be,eerformed better than WCT,.Jappanan is confined to a few gardens in Pathiyoor, Kayamkulam. Its characteristics are I reportedly superior -.. to -.- that,- of.. WCT.._ Elite tall.. is that...-, which possesses. higher.-..., tolerance to diseas!s~,~.,pesta.esp,e,cially to root wilt disease and are considered..,, ~. genetically superior to WCT and can be well exploited in crop improvement, -,, \..,.,".,,, _.. - -r studies. King coconut is another ecotype grown in Trichur district which has.-. - _.,m not been closely observed by the farmers. Chowghat... Green Dwarf (CGD) is a dwarf cultivar possessing high tolerance to root wilt and leaf rot diseases.... -IIY...Y......,,,, -. It is now being selected in the interse crossing of disease resistant hybrids. - - _ From the interactions with farmers, the tall ecotypes viz. Kuttiyadi Tall, King Coconut, Elite Tall, Jappanan and Komadan and the Dwarf ecotype Chowghat Green Dwarf were identified for the study with West Coast Tall (WCT) as check for all locations except for Elite Tall and Komadan where WCT were not available in the same or adjacent holdings. The study aimed at comparison of the field performance of the selected ecotypes with that of WCT by evaluating the - - physio-morphological

5 . characteristics, yield and yield attributes and bio-chemical characteristics. In - C..- I.- I-..-. the final scoring based on the superiority in performance the ecotypes were ranked (Table. &.). In the evaluation studies the physio-morphological data, yield parameters and biochemical characters showed significant variation among the ecotypes as well as between the ecotypes and WCT. The performance of all the ecotypes excelled to that _of-the WCT. The WCT in general showed, , good performance, but when compared to that of the ecotypes under study, it was lower than that of the ecotypes. The ecotypes under study are sparsely distributed and the palms of same age groue were not available and hence comparison of morphological - -. I-_.C- characteristics %..- has _. got - some.,- limitations. Other parameters viz. dry matter production, yield and yield attributes, tender nut water characteristics, oil content, total phenol and disease incidence were studied and data recorded. Significant variation has been observed in most of the parameters among the ecotypes indicating the superiority of one ecotype over the other. Similarly the comparatively better performance exhibited by the ecotypes in most of the parameters was clear indication of their superiority. In addition to the general morphological characteristics, the parameters evaluated were stem dry matter palm-, leaf dry matter palm-,

6 I- - vegetative dry matter palm-, total number of nuts palm-', total weight of nut, reproductory dry matter palm-, total dry matter total nut dry weight palm-', total copra production palm', harvest index in respect of nut weight, harvest index in respect of oil output, oil percentage, total oil output ha-', total water content tendernut-' and total leaf polyphenol. In the,, vegetative..-.. dry., -. matter-.{vd-mi-,p_raduction.. - which is the sum of the stem dry matter and leaf dry matter, King Coconut and Kuttiyadi Tall - - -,- ranked ' and "* respectively, followed by Jappanan, Komadan, Elite Tall \ -.., - and finally Chowghat Green Dwarf. A few WCT palms recorded high Stem Dry Matter than the ecotypes. Higher VDM is an indication of lower harvest index (HI). King Coconut and Kuttiyadi Tall which ranked lst and nd in VDM production ranked th and " respectively in HI. Higher - - yield in+.je-ms of more...number of.nuts*-yas- uniformly.._-i- observed in Kuttiyadi Tall, K~madan and Elite Tall. In the reproductory dry -,. -^_ , -, ', matter (RDM), total dry matter (TDM), nut dry weight and copra production, Jappanan ranked first., followed,,,. by Kuttiyadi Tall and King Coconut. -. Quantity of tender coconut water nut-' was more in Jappgnan -..._ followed by Komadan and King Coconut. All components except total sugar ,,. _- - _.....,

7 showed variation among the ecotypes and between the ecotypes and WCT. However, there was no significant variation in total sugar. The total sugar was higher in CGD. The low potash content was observed in King Coconut followed by CGD. Oilgercentxe..-. was-me inu,kiang. C-~.mnut,-.Chowghat _._ - - _. Green -._ Dwarf.. (CGD) had..- the.- lowest ranking in most of the parameters, -. but.., in oil content...i._.. -,. this dwarf ecotype was in the second position,.., which confirms the data -. - ^.. - I l_l.l ' reported by Thampan ( 99).., - No disease incidence was noticed in any of the ecotypes. Only WCT located in disease prevalent areas exhibited incidence of diseases. The result indicates a certain degree >-. of. tolerance,.., to pests and diseases,,. by, the ecotypgs. In total phenol, CGD was in the first position followed by Jappanac The comparatively better disease tolerance of the former has already been proved. In the case of the latter, the performance in apparently healthy growth characteristics indicated its disease tolerance which needs further investigation. Thus when major parameters viz, stem dry matter, leaf dry matter, vegetative dry matter, total number of nuts, total weight of nut, reproductory dry matter, total dry matter, total nut dry weight, total copra production, harvest index in respect of nut weight, harvest index in respect of oil output,

8 . oil percentage, total oil output per ha, total nut water content in tender nut and total phenol were compared, Jappanan ranked first in nine parameters, -...-,. -.. (total number of nuts, total weight of nut, RDM, TDM, total nut dry weight, total copra production, harvest index in respect of nut weight, total oil output per ha and total nut water content in tender nut),. second in total phenol, and third in three parameters (SDM, VDM and harvest index in _,.I-..a_- '- me.. - _. -^...,.., respect of oil). Tn DM, Jappanan ranked fourth while in oil percentage ,. ". fifth. On the above basis of ranking -....,- as the best ecotype in performance followed -, b~~,,cocanut,..... Kuttiyadi, Elite Tall, Komadan and finally CGD. In all the parameters except in SDM, WCT ranked lower than \ ,.,.,.., that of all tall ecotypes. The investigations have helped in understanding the physiological and biochemical parameters of the selected ecotypes of coconut which have not yet been studied in detail and not yet utilized for crop improvement studies. Based on the data recorded in the present study, following conclusions have been drawn:- The ecotypes maintained high dry matter production and high partitioning of dry matter towards yield components, thus maintaining higher yield stability. The ecotypes also exhibited high _ disease tolerance even in the high disease prevalent tracts. So these...,-..

9 ecotypes could be utilized as mother palms in the seedling production _- -.-",... programme. The ecotypes possess all desirable traits and are superior to the WCT....._...,,. These._.-.- ecotypes.-... can...- &...utilized for.. bre,eding purposes and the&- improving the genetic. base production. of. quality... planting material. - - of.- coconut... as well as for large scale- The - tolerance -_ exhibited by the ecotypes against pest and diseases _ - should be exploited in breeding for disease resistance. - -, ' The result of the present study corroborates the earlier study result of high polyphenol content in CGD and its role in comparatively better disease tolerance. The degree of tolerance exhibited by the ecotypes in general and Jappanan in particular even in the highly root wilt prevalent area, offers further scope for investigation on this line. k The superiority of the cultivar, Jappanan in the morphological and -. -,, yield characteristics shall be further exploited for propagation > The superiority of Komadan over WCT reported from earlier studies has been proved in the present study. Since the consumptian of tender coconut water and utilization of... mature coconut water for value.. addition are gaining., - popularity,,,.. -. the

10 . ecotypes assume significance in utilizing them for tender coconut - - * _ ".", - water purpose as well as for coconut water based processing ,..- I-..* Multiplication of these ecotypes through interse crossing and._.....'-i establishment of seed gardens for large scale production of planting,_.,._..,,., ". material , and breeding purpose assumes significance....-,- -,-._.. _....,.,.,,.,,.<-

11 Table.. Ranking of different parameters in the ecotypes S No Parameters Stem Dry Matter eaf Dry Matter Totalnumberofnuts Weight of nut Vegetative Dry Matter Reproductory Dry Matter Total Dry Matter Total nut dry weight Total copra production Harvest Index in respect of nut weight Oil Content (%) Oil Output per ha Total water content Total Phenol H - High, - ow KT KC ET CGD JN. - I d I - *. e,: WCT -.l J '/,. *-., +- KO H I Table.. Rating of ecotypes based on different parameters Cultivar JN KC KT ET KO CGD st 9 I nd I rd th 8 th I th I 8