Skill India

Mother palm and seed nut selection in palms

coconut is a perennial cross pollinated crop and having near about 60 years economic life span. it is very important that only genetically superior seedling should be selected for planting purpose. Good mother Palm of coconut can be selected by following criteria.

Selection of mother palms of coconut

1. The coconut tree crown should be spherical or semi spherical in shape.
2. It should not be dropping or erect crown.
3. Palm should have 30 to 40 fully opened leaves.
4. It shouldn’t have 12 to 15 bunches with a high setting of female flowers.
5. Nut should be medium in size round or spherical in shape.
6. Palm should be 25 to 50 years old .
7. Palm growing close to house cattle shades compost pits etc should be avoided.
8. Mother palm selected should be free from pesta and disease.

Nuts should be obtained from having above desirable characteristics and used for propagation its germination takes place within 11 to 12 weeks after planting.

Selection of mother palm in oil palm

For obtaining the higher oil yield per palm the following criteria are taken into consideration while selecting mother palms for propagation in oil palm .

1. Seeds are collected from mature fruit after removal of exocarp and mesocarp .
2. The oil palm nuts usually contains only one seed.
3. Mother palm of Dura and Macrocarya types of oil palm which had thick or very thick shells gertninate under natural conditions.
4. The tenera type mother palm should not be selected because its seeds are not germinate upto 14 weeks after sowing.
5. The palm having more leaf long flowering duration produces male female and hermaphorodite flowers more bunch weight more numbers of bunches high per cent fruit set high percentage of mesocarp per fruit and high percentage if oil from per mesocarp are selected.

Selection of mother palm of arecanut selecting the right mother palm is crucial for high yielding and healthy arecanut areca catechu cultivation.key characteristics include early and regular bearing a large number of leaves short internodes and high fruit set the selected palms should be also be Free from pests and disease and ideally be in a their middle age 15 to 30 years .

Detailed selection criteria

Early and regular bearing the mother palm should be known for its early and consistent production of fruits

High fruit set a good mother palm should have a hugh percentage of successfully pollinated and developed fruits.

Leaf count A large number of leaves on the crown indicates a healthy and vigorous palm .

Internode length shorter internodes yhe selection of the trunk between leaf scars are generally associated with better productivity.

Age while some prefer palms aged 25 to 30 years research suggests that palm kf middle age 15 to 30 years are suitable especially in garden with medium management.

Pest and Disease free the selected palm should be free from any viable signs of pests ir diseases.

Trunk and crown the trunk should be straight and stout with a spherical or semi spherical crown.

Leaf and in Florence production a good mother palm will produce a high number of leaves and in Florence flower stalk s

bunch stalks the bunch stalks should be strong and the bunches should ideally rest on the leaf petioles of the lower whorl.

Female flowers a higher number if female flower is on the in Florence is desirable

yield high yielding palms should produce at least 100 nuts per palm per year under irrigated conditions and 70 to 80 nuts under rain fed conditions.

nursery practice in plantation crops nursery management dictates the field performance and long term yield kf perennial plantation crops selecting premium mother palm implementing strict seed clone sorting and maintaining optimalvshade and irrigation are the baseline requirements for production.

palms coconut arecanut oil palm palmyrah

coconut cocos nucifera

seed selection collect fully ripe 11 to 12 months old nuts from high yielding mother palms during january to April.

nursery beds prepare bed 1.5 meter wide with 60bcm spacing between beds use sandy soil or provide river sand top layering to prevent waterlogging.

Planting set nuts horizontally or vertically at a depth of 15 cm with 30 cm × 30 cm spacing.

Culling select only vigorous seedling that germinate within 3 to 5 months discard late germinators split leaf mutant or week se

seedlings at 9 to 12 months.

Arecanut Areca catechu

seed selection harvest Fully ripe heavy nuts from palms yielding over 150 nut