Everything you need to know about coconut cultivation and harvest! Learn about: 1. Botany of Coconut 2. Origin of Coconut 3. Soil and Climate 4. Production 5. Flowering and Fruiting 6. Harvesting 7. Pests and Diseases.
Botany of Coconut:
The Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family). It is the only species in the genus Cocos, and is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4-6 m long, pinnae 60-90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly leaving the trunk smooth. The term coconut refers to the seed of the coconut palm. An alternate spelling is cocoanut.
The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropical world, for decoration as well as for its many culinary and non-culinary uses; virtually every part of the coconut palm has some human uses.
The coconut has spread across much of the tropics, probably aided in many cases by seafaring people. The fruit is light and buoyant and presumably spread significant distances by marine currents. Fruits collected from the sea as far north as Norway have been found to be viable (and subsequently germinated under the right conditions). In the Hawaiian Islands, the coconut is regarded as a Polynesian introduction, first brought to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers from their homelands in the South Pacific. They are now almost ubiquitous between 26°N and 26°S.
The flowers of the coconut palm are polygamo-monoecious, with both male and female flowers in the same inflorescence. Flowering occurs continuously, with female flowers producing seeds. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although some dwarf varieties are self-pollinating. Coconuts also come with a liquid that is clear like water but sweet. The “Nut” of the coconut is edible and is in the shape of a ball or is on the inside sides of the coconut.
Origin of Coconut:
The origins of this plant are the subject of controversy, with most authorities claiming it is native to South Asia (particularly the Ganges Delta), while others claim its origin is in northwestern South America. Fossil records from New Zealand indicate that small, coconut-like plants grew there as long as 15 million years ago. Even older fossils have been uncovered in Kerala (Kerala means “land of coconut palms”), Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra (India) and the oldest known so far in Khulna, Bangladesh.
Mention is made of coconuts in the 2nd-1st centuries BC in the Mahawamsa of Sri Lanka. The later Culawamasa states that King Aggabodhi I (575-608) planted a coconut garden of 3 yojanas length, possibly the earliest recorded coconut plantation.
Soil and Climate Required for Coconut Cultivation:
Coconut trees are very hard to establish in dry climates and cannot grow there without frequent irrigation; in drought conditions, the new leaves do not open well, and older leaves may become desiccated; fruit also tends to be shed.
Plant densities in Vanuatu for copra production are generally 9 metre, allowing a tree density of 100-160 trees per hectare.
Coconut Production in the Middle East:
The main coconut producing area in the Middle East is the Dhofar region of Oman. Particular the area around Salalah maintains large coconut plantations similar to those found across the Arabian Sea. The large coconut grooves of Dhofar are already mentioned by the medieval Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta in his writings known as Al Rihla. This is possible due to an annual rainy season known locally as Khareef.
Coconut are also increasingly grown for decorative purposes along the coasts of UAE and Saudi Arabia with the help of irrigation. The UAE has however imposed strict laws on mature coconut tree imports from other countries to reduce the spreading of pests that can spread to other native palm trees such as the date palm.
The Philippines is the world leader in coconut production (2007) followed by Indonesia and India in distant third.
Flowering and Fruiting in Coconut Trees:
On the same inflorescence, the palm produces both the female and male flowers; thus the palm is monoecious.
Botanically, a coconut is a simple dry nut known as a fibrous drupe. The husk, or mesocarp, is composed of fibers called coir and there is an inner stone, or endocarp. The endocarp is the hardest part. This hard endocarp, the outside of the coconut as sold in the shops of non-tropical countries, has three germination pores that are clearly visible on the outside surface once the husk is removed. It is through one of these that the radicle emerges when the embryo germinates. Adhering to the inside wall of the endocarp is the testa, with a thick aluminous endosperm (the coconut “meat”), the white and fleshy edible part of the seed.
Although coconut meat contains less fat than other dry nuts such as almonds, it is noted for its high amount of saturated fat. Approximately 90% of the fat found in coconut meat is saturated, a proportion exceeding that of foods such as lard, butter, and tallow. However, there has been some debate as to whether or not the saturated fat in coconuts is healthier than the saturated fat found in other foods. Coconut meat also contains less sugar and more protein than popular fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges, and it is relatively high in minerals such as iron, phosphorus and zinc.
The endosperm surrounds a hollow interior space, filled with air and often a liquid referred to as coconut water, not to be confused with coconut milk. Coconut milk, called “santan” in Malay and “Katas Ngungut” in Kapampangan, is made by grating the endosperm and mixing it with (warm) water. The resulting thick, white liquid is used in much Asian cooking, for example, in curries. Coconut water from the unripe coconut can be drunk fresh.
Young coconuts used for coconut water are called tender coconuts. The water of a tender coconut is liquid endosperm. It is sweet (mild) with aerated feel when cut fresh. Depending on the size a tender coconut could contain the liquid in the range of 300 to 1,000 ml.
When viewed on end, the endocarp and germination pores give the fruit the appearance of a coco (also Coca), a Portuguese word for a scary witch from Portuguese folklore, that used to be represented as a carved vegetable lantern, hence the name of the fruit. The specific name nucifera is Latin for nut-bearing.
When the coconut is still green, the endosperm inside is thin and tender, often eaten as a snack. But the main reason to pick the fruit at this stage is to drink its water; a large unripe coconut contains up to one litre.
The meat in a young coconut is softer and more like gelatin than a mature coconut, so much so, that it is sometimes known as coconut jelly. When the coconut has ripened and the outer husk has turned brown, a few months later, it will fall from the palm of its own accord. At that time the endosperm has thickened and hardened, while the coconut water has become somewhat bitter. Coconuts sundried in Kozhikode in the State of Kerala, India for making copra, which is used for making coconut oil.
When the coconut fruit is still green the husk is very hard, but green coconuts only fall if they have been attacked by moulds, etc. By the time the coconut naturally falls, the husk has become brown, the coir has become drier and softer, and the coconut is less likely to cause damage when it drops. Still, there have been instances of coconuts falling from palms and injuring people, and claims of some fatalities.
This was the subject of a paper published in 1984 that won the Nobel Prize in 2001. Falling coconut deaths are often used as a comparison to shark attacks; the claim is often made that a person is more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark, yet, there is no evidence of people ever being killed in this manner. However, William Wyatt Gill, an early LMS missionary on Mangaia recorded a story in which Kaiara, the concubine of King Tetui, was killed by a falling green nut. The offending palm was immediately cut down. This was around 1777, the time of Captain Cook’s visit.
Husk:
In Thailand the coconut husk is used as a potting medium because of its cost-effectiveness to produce healthy forest tree saplings. The process of husk extraction from the coir bypasses the retting process, using a custom-built coconut husk extractor designed by ASEAN-Canada Forest Tree Seed Centre (ACFTSC) in 1986. Fresh husks contains more tannin than old husks. Tannin produces negative effects on sapling growth.
Roots:
Unlike some other plants, the palm tree has neither tap root nor root hairs; but has a fibrous root system.
Harvesting of Coconut:
In some parts of the world, trained pig-tailed macaques are used to harvest coconuts. Training schools for pig-tailed macaques still exist both in southern Thailand and in the Malaysian state of Kelantan. Competitions are held each year to find the fastest harvester.
Diseases and Pests of Coconut:
Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, ‘Maypan’, has been bred for resistance to this disease. The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid mites. The coconut is also used as a food plant by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the following Batrachedra spp B. arenosella, B. atriloqua (feeds exclusively on Cocos nucifera), B. mathesoni (feeds exclusively on Cocos nucifera), and B. nuciferae.
Brontispa longissima (the “Coconut leaf beetle”) feeds on young leaves and damages seedlings and mature coconut palms. On September 27, 2007, Philippines’ Metro Manila and 26 provinces were quarantined due to having been infested with this pest (to save the $800 – million Philippine coconut industry). In Kerala the major pests of Coconut are the Eriophyid mite, the Rhinoceros Beetle, the Red Palm Weevil and the Coconut Leaf caterpillar.
The Eriophyid mite (Eriophyes guerreronis) is devastating and can cause damages up to 90% in coconut production. The immature nuts are infested and desapped by staying in the portion covered by the Perianth of the immature nut. Subsequently the nuts drop off or survive deformed. Spraying with Wettable Sulfur 0.4% alternately with neem based pesticides can give some relief, but is cumbersome and labor intensive. Research on this topic gave no results and the researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University and the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Kasaragode are still searching for a cure.