QUALITY COCONUT SEEDLING PRODUCTION: IMPORTANCE,
METHODOLOGY AND CHALLENGES
N.Chattopadhyay and A.B.Sharangi*
(*dr_absharangi@yahoo.co.in)
Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Faculty of Horticulture, Bidhan Chandra
Krishi Viswavidyalqya, Mohanpur-741252, Nadia, West Bengal
The quality of planting material determines the ultimate returns from arable crops,
particularly from tree crops like coconut. The seedling vigour is highly correlated with
adult palm characters such as early flowering, nut yield and copra production (Liyanage
and Abeywardena. 1957). In the absence of a viable technology for vegetative method of
propagation, coconut is propagated through seeds. If the seed nuts happen to be of poor
quality, the new plantation will prove to be uneconomic causing considerable loss of time
and money to the grower. Coconut, being a perennial crop, needs much attention in the
selection of planting materials during establishments of an orchard or even for homestead
garden. Further, being cross-fertilized, it does not breed true and makes the selection of
seed nuts and seedlings more difficult. Moreover, the increasing competition from other
countries like Indonesia, Philippines etc., compels us to go for quality planting materials
as a first step towards better establishment increased productivity and improved quality
nuts for a considerable period of time.
Generally coconut growers have some misconceptions in choosing planting
materials for their garden. They select the inappropriate mother palm, follow a wrong
position of nut during planting, and judge the maturity of nut wrongly etc. knowingly or
unknowingly. This reflected in terms of poor establishment, growth, yield and quality
resulting a significant economic loss personally as well as in the perspective of global
export scenario. Keeping this in view it is felt worthwhile to contribute some positive
aspects on production methodology of quality planting materials in coconut.
The first and foremost step is the selection of mother palm. The mother palms
should be of 25-60 years of age with at least 30-32 rully opened healthy leaves on crown,
shape of crown should be spherical or semi-spherical, petiole length and stalk of the
bunches should be short and strong in nature, bearing habit should be regular with at least
80 nuts annual yield during the last 5 years, having medium sized round to oblong nuts
(1200 g weight with dried husk). One should avoid drooping crown, dis-shaped nut,
proximity of cattle shed and compost pit near the palm.
The next step is collection of seed nut. The season of seed nut collection may vary
from region to region. Always it is better to collect nuts that had undergone development
during rainy season for seed nut purpose. The seed nuts should be collected from
February-May with 11-12 months age (full mature), the shape and size should be proper,
any type of damage of the nut during harvesting is to be avoided rather the nuts are to be
lowered by ropes only to get an undamaged embryo, the presence of water is to be judged
by shaking the nuts and getting clear metallic sound on taping.
Storing of nuts is another important step towards quality seedling production.
Usually the seed nuts are stored in open shade for about a month (ill the husk becomes
dry to facilitate speedy and maximum germination (Thampan, 1982). Then they are
arranged on the floor of a shed over 7-8 cm thick land of dry sand with their stalk end up
and covered with the sand to prevent drying of nut water. Five layers of nuts can be
arranged one over the other. During summer sprinkling of water is needed to prevent the
drying of nut water. In South Indian condition, Marimuthu and Natarajan (2005) opined
that to gel more quality seedlings the seed nuts are to be cured for one month in open
shade followed by sand curing for 2 or 3 months.
Selection of site and seedbed preparation are to be done with due care. Welldrained, coarse-texture soil in the vicinity of assured water source is desirable. The beds
are to be prepared with a height of 10-15 cm from ground level to avoid water stagnation.
As a precaution against white grub and termite the soil is to be treated with HCH H) per
cent <,(i 60 K.g per hectare or chlordane 5 per cent dust i'a\ 120 Kg per hectare or soil
drenching with chloropyriphos (5 ml/1 of water). Usually the beds are made of 2 m width
and of convenient length with 60-75 cm space in between two beds for better supervision,
irrigation, intercultural and drainage purposes. Then the seed nuts are sown at a spacing
of 40-cmX30 cm in 20-25 cm deep trenches during May-June. Before sowing it is better
to soak the seeds in water for two weeks to facilitate easy and early germination. In a trial
in Tanzania, soaking of seed nuts in water recorded the lowest period of germination
(81.1 days) in comparison with 142.9 days for untreated nuts (Thomas, 1973). The
position of seed nuts during planting is another important consideration. The nuts may be
placed horizontally or vertically with stalk end up and in such a manner that the husk
appears just above the surface of the soil. The advantage of vertical planting is on account
of its convenience in transport. On the other hand, horizontal planting has been critically
found advantageous as this type of planting ensures feeding the developing .seedling by
the endosperm. Moreover, coconut milk under this horizontal planting will be in close
proximity with the developing embryo thereby providing more favorable condition for
germination. Experiments conducted at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya,
Mohanpur. Nadia. West Bengal revealed that the horizontal position (82.69°6) recorded
better germination than vertical (79.24%) position (Chattopadhyay el ai 2004 a) under
new alluvial plains of West Bengal. In another experiment at Bidhan Chandra Krishi
Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur. Nadia, West Bengal Chattopadhyay el al (2004 b) compared
five seed sizes ranging 600-1100 g and two planting methods viz., horizontal and vertical
and concluded that horizontal method of planting with higher weight of seed nut recorded
early and maximum germination and more seedling vigour. During planting the widest of
the three segments is to be placed uppermost in horizontal planting to ensure early and
higher germination percentage as well as vigorous seedlings with thicker collar girth. The
seed nuts should be buried with soil and covered with thick layer of sand to prevent
termite attack.
The next vital step is care and management of nursery. Irrigation, fertilization,
weeding and plant protection are the major considerations at this step. Irrigation should
be done at regular intervals during dry season to ensure soil moisture as per requirement
of the seedling. Fertilizers in the form of NPK @ 20:20:40 Kg/ha is to be applied in three
splits during December, February and April (Nelliat. 1973). Weeds are readily removed
from the seedbeds as they compete with the seedlings for nutrients, water as well as
space, sunlight etc. During hot and dry periods coconut leaf mulch is found to be
effective for early and better germination, good seedling growth and better establishment.
Moreover, shading should be done immediately after the monsoon ends, especially when
the nursery is raised in the open space. Careful inspection is a must for detecting the
incidence of pests and diseases and suitable plant protection measures like spraying of
dimethoate @0.05 per cent on the undersurface of the leaves for controlling scales and
mealy bug attack is necessary. Spraying dicofol (#0.05 per cent on the undersurface of
the leaves checks the infestation of mite. In areas where there is a risk of fungal attack
like leaf spot and bud rot diseases, preventive treatments should be given twice a month,
spraying both sides of the leaves with 1 per cent Bordeaux mixture or 0.3 per cent Indofil
M-45 and severely infected loaves must be removed and burnt to avoid dissemination of
leaves.
The nuts start germination in 11-12 weeks after planting and continued upto 5
months. The essential points to be noted during selection of seedlings are early
germination, early splitting of leaves into leaflets, short and thick leaf stalks, healthy and
robust appearance, having minimum of six leaves and collar girth of 10 cm at one year
age. Proper selection of seedlings in the nursery alone ensures 10 per cent improvement
in yield (Liyanage. 1953). Freedom from pest and disease is also given due consideration
during seedling selection. This is. in a nutshell, the whole story of quality coconut
seedlings production. But as a matter of fact mere planting of good seedling does not
always ensure better production. This is mainly due to ill management with regards to
irrigation and fertilization. The crude reality is that coconut plants in homestead garden
are rarely watered or supplied with fertilizers in time. The disease and pest incidence
including the malady caused by rats is often neglected and is not properly taken care of.
Moreover, lured by advertisements ignorant farmers always rush for high yielding
varieties without considering their adaptability in local conditions and disregarding many
local varieties with good adaptation.
India has its lion's share in production, consumption and export of coconut in the
world. The need of the hour is to concentrate on production oriented research considering
the export quality and economic feasibility. Research stations, SAUs, NGOs, Cooperatives are to go hand in hand with a strong determination to continue GUI' traditional
dominance in the world with excellence.
References
Chattopadhyay, N.,Sharangi,A.B. andHore, J.K.,2004 a . Effect of position and depth of
planting on germination of coconut. HaryanaJ.hort.Sci.33 (1 &2): 85-86.
Chattopadhyay, N.,Bandyopadhyay.A., Hore, J.K.and Ghosh,D.2004 b. Effect of seed
size and sowing methods on germination and seedling vigour of coconut.
Paper presented in National Conference on Plants, Microbes and Environment;
Issues ami Challenges, March 20-21,2004.
Liyanage, D.V.I953. Selection of coconut seed nuts and seedlings. Ceylon coconut
Quart.4: 127-129.
Liyanage,D.V.and Abeywardena, 1957. Correlations between seed nut, seedlings and
adult palm characters in coconut. Tropical Agriculturist, 133: 325-340.
Marimuthu,R.and Natarajan,C.,2005.
Sand curing is essential for obtaining more
recovery of quality seedlings in coconut. Indian Coconut J.35 (12): 10-11.
Nelliat, E.V. 1973. Nutrition of coconut palm- a review. J.Plantation Crops. l(Suppl): 7080.
Thampan, P.K.1982. Handbook on coconut palm. Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., New
Delhi.p.71
Thomas, K.M.1973. Influence of seed size and planting orientation on the
germination and growth of coconut. Ceylon Coconut Quart.24: 85-90.