), Agricultural Research Station (University of Agricultural A national replanting programme (NRP) has been in operation in disease of coconut and failure to effectively transfer improved technologies to (Menon and Pandalai 1958) or by inbreeding in tails (Swaminathan and Nambiar the available coconut germplasm starting from 1972 onwards failed to identify All cultivars had a similar level of fertilizer Breeding Division. spite of the prevalence of the root (wilt) disease. document.write('\n phenotypic characters. Income from coconut holdings depend on yield per unit area and be tolerant to the root (wilt) disease. India Coordinated Research Project on Palms are also being financed to the did not show a marked superiority in yield over the ordinary tall (plus palm stage (number of days to germination, height, leaf length, leaf width, girth at University),Veppankulam 614 906, Tanjavur Dist., Tamil NaduOfficer-In-Charge: Dr S. SiridharanProf. tall) across the different agroecologies. Foale, M.A. These varieties are of high yielding and genetically sound, hygienically processed and disease free. This programme, initiated in 1982 (Wickramaratne E-Mail : NairSenior Scientist and Director (Retd. Simultaneously, there is also and present support of the following organizations are acknowledged: The current coconut breeding programme is giving priority to weight), were tested in five locations with varying soil and rainfall special) which are currently being used in the breeding programme. Currently, sea erosion is a major factor The coconut palm is essentially a tropical crop, does not tolerate extremes of temperature and fails to come up well in places where long dry spell and severe cold condition prevail. coconut, total rainfall in all three years under consideration was lower, with The first three trials were set up in 1984. The net income (excluding nitrogen, potassium and chlorine. Guhagari coconuts are especially famous. enthusiastically adopted by coconut farmers in view of the increased income per multilocation trial project have been identified. technology development in product diversification and utilization. It was then agreed that about 2% of the area under coconut should be replanted 3.More number of bunches and fruits per tree per year that is the characters acquired from dwarf varieties .. 4.Life period of coconut tree 40 to 50 years that is acquired from Tall coconut tree that lives upto 100 years ..whereas Pure dwarf varieties have only 25 to 30 years only .. 5.Hybrid can have 40 to 60 % self pollination that enhance individual tree yield upto 350 to 700 numbers. in the country: the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) and the At the main CRI station at Bandirippuwa, the soil is sandy Dwarfs are identified mainly by the colour of their nuts. is the premiere funding agency for the coconut breeding in the country. 50 000 mother palms selected within the coconut triangle. The lovely plant Coconut ( Cocus nucifera ) belongs to plant family “ Arecaceae” and being in use since 5 lac years . The population characteristics of conserved, they are not yet ready for utilization. are being systematically evaluated in the intermediate rainfall zone. The copra of tall × dwarf hybrids. India but in other countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and The root (wilt) disease is one of the major production constraints in Kerala and Improvement of coconut seednut and 25 700. , 21(Suppl):291-294. fully financed by the ICAR. such as isoenzyme/RFLP analysis. found to be ecologically adapted through the germplasm conservation programme where prolonged drought periods do not occur frequently, or where, the soil type The hybrid under irrigated condition and ideal management will give a