Varieties of Coconut

Varieties of Coconut

There are only two distinct varieties of coconut. (1) Tall and (2) Dwarf.

1) Tall Varieties:

It is extensively cultivated in ail the coconut tracts of the world. It has long and stout trunk with a swollen base called as ‘bole’. This variety grows to the height of about 15 to 18 m the crown will have 35 to 40 fronds and the length of full open frond will be about 6m .It is comparatively hardy late bearing and lives up to 80 to 90 years. It tolerates diverse soil and climatic conditions and bears fruits in seven to ten years under rain fed conditions. The copra, oil and fiber of this variety are of good quality. The nut matures within a period of 12 months after pollination.

Some of the Tall Varieties are:

1) West – cost tall
2) Laccadiv Micro
3) Andaman ordinary
4) Fiji
5) Kappadam
6) San Ramon
7) Philippines
8) Spicate
9) Pratap

2. Dwarf Varieties:

Dwarf varieties occur in most of the coconut growing countries. This variety is characterized by its short statute and earliness in bearing, generally autogamous or self pollinating. Trunk is thin without swollen bole. Full developed fords rarely exceeds 4 m. under hormai conditions, the palm starts flowering in about 3 to 4 years. Fuli grown tree rarely exceeds .5 m height. It yields heavily but, irregular in bearing. Economic, bearing age is up to 25 years of late, the dwarf variety received much attention in India’ and else where because of its use as a parent in evolving high yielding hybrids.  The Malayan dwarf one of the important dwarf type in the world is reported to be resistant to devastating lethal yellowing disease in ‘Jamaica’.
In India, 2 important dwarf types commonly found are (i). Chowghat dwarf green and (ii) Ghowchat dwarf orange.

3. Hybrid Palms:

The manifestation of hybrid, vigour or heterosis, in perennial crops like / coconut was first reported in 1932 in inter-varietal crosses involving the tall variety as the female and dwarf variety as male. The seedling exhibited hybrid vigor. The seedlings from hybrid nut had rapid growth with a higher rate of leaf production, short preparing period high bearing capacity and economic nut characters. The inter-varietal hybrid produced for the commercial planting are the tall x dwarf and Dwarf x tall.

Tall x Dwarf Hybrid:

In this hybrid, ordinary tall is female and dwarf as male parent. The dwarf parents used are dwarf orange, dwarf green, ganga badam and Malyan dwarf yellow.
           

Morphological and Yield Attributes of T x D and its Parentage

Tall x Dwarf (orange) hybrids were found to significantly superior to the T x D (green) hybrid.