coconut breeding is totally different from other fruit crops.

1. Manohar lal meghwal
M.Sc. (Horti.) Fruit science
Course No: FSC-506
Course Title: Breeding of Fruit crops

3.  The coconut palm (cocos nucifera L.) is a member
of the palm family Arecaceae and the only species
in the genus Cocos.
 The English name coconut, comes from the
Spanish and Portuguese word coco, which means
“monkey face”. Nucifera means “nut bearing”.
 It is a perennial tree crop widely cultivated in the
humid tropics occuring in coastal areas between
the latitudes 26°N and 26° S of the equator and at
altitudes up to 1200 m.

4.  It belong to the lower group of flowering plants called
Monocotyledons.
 The coconut 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 palm, eulogized as “Kalpavriksha”, “Tree of heaven”,
“Tree of life” or “Nature’s supermarket”, is considered as
nature’s valuable gift to the mankind due to its
innumerable uses to millions of people.
 The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropical world
for decoration as well as for its many culinary and non-
culinary uses.

5.  Kingdom: Palm
 Class: Liliopsida
 Subclass: Arecidae
 Order : Arecales
 Family: Arecaceae
 Genus: Cocos L.
 Specimen: Cocos nucifera L.

6.  The origin of coconut is a matter of controversy.
There are several views on the place of origin and
evidences are also shown to prove the various
versions on the origin. Most of the authorities
claim it to be a native to south Asia.
 Recently Gunn et al. (2011) proposed two
geographical origins of coconut cultivation such as
island South east Asia and southern margins of the
Indian subcontinent.

7.  The characteristics of the wild coconut fruit particularly
the trait such as high content of husk and low proportion
of shell, kernel and nut water made the whole nut light,
highly water resistant and enabled its dispersal to different
continents and countries through marine currents.
 The coconut palm is grown in the tropical region between
latitudes 26°N and 26°S
 Though it is a sea-side plant, it is grows in interior areas
also, far away from the sea.

8.  The main coconut growing areas are located in Asia,
Oceania, West Indies, Central and South America and West
and East Africa.
 In India, the coconut palm is grown in an area of around
1.935 million hectares.
 Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka account for about 88%
of the area, while Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal,
Maharashtra, Goa, Diu and Daman Assam, Pondicherry,
Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep
account for the remaining 12% of the coconut growing
area in the country.

9.  Coconut has been classified into ‘Dwarf’ and ‘Tall’
varieties based on tree habit.
 The ‘Tall’ coconuts are grow faster than ‘Dwarfs’.
 Many Tall are grown for the production of copra
for oil extraction and coir for fiber; while actively
cultivated, these varieties lack the obvious
domestication traits of the self pollinating Dwarfs.

10. The widely accepted classification groups cultivars into two groups –
Tall and Dwarfs on the basis of a few important characters like stature,
growth characteristics of the palm, precious nature in flowering and nut
and copra characters.

11.  Sometimes referred to as var. typica (Nar.)
 Tall palm are widely planted both for household and
commercial use and grow to a height of 20-30m.
 They are slow maturing and flower 6-10 years after
planting, long lived with economic life if about 60-70
years.
 They are normally cross-pollinating and therefore,
considered to be heterozygous.
 Tall varieties are produce copra of good quantity and
quality, and have fairly high oil content as compared to
dwarf cultivar.
 The Tall cultivars commonly grown in India are the
West Coast Tall(WCT), Tiptur Tall (TPT), and East

12.  They are sometimes referred to as var. nana (Griff).
 These are believed to be mutants from tall types with short
stature, 8-10 m when 20 years old.
 They begin bearing about the third year at less than 1 meter
height. They have a short productive life of 30-40 years.
 They are normally self-pollinating and therefore, considered
to be homozygous.
 The nuts are smaller and copra soft, leathery and low in oil
content.
 It generally grown for tender nut and hybrid production.
 The common Dwarfs available in India are Chowghat
Orange Dwarf (COD), Chowghat Green Dwarf (CGD),
Kenthali (KTOD) and Gangabondam (GBGD).

13. SR.NO NAME AGENCY
1 Chandrakalpa CPCRI
2 Kerachandra CPCRI
3 Chowghat orange dwarf CPCRI
4 Kalpa Pratibha CPCRI
5 Kalpa Mitra CPCRI
6 Kalpa dhenu CPCRI
7 Kalpatharu CPCRI and TNAU
8 Kalparaksha CPCRI
9 Kalpasree CPCRI
10 Pratap KKV, DAPOLI

14. SR.NO NAME AGENCY
11 VPM-3 TNAU
12 ALR-1 TNAU
13 Kamrupa AAU, Assam
14 Kera Sagara KAU, Kerala
15 Kera Keralam CPCRI,
TNAU
16 Kera Bastar DBSKKV,
ANGRAU,
IGKV
17 Kalyani Coconut-1 BCKVV
18 Gauthami Ganga ANGRAU

15.  CPCRI : Central Plantation Crops Research Institute
 TNAU : Tamil Nadu agricultural university.
 KKV : Konkan Krishi Vidhyapeeth (MH).
 AAU : Assam Agricultural University
 KKU : Kerala Agricultural University
 BCKVV: Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidhyalaya (WB)
 DBSKKV : Dr. BALASAHEB SAWANT KONKAN KRISHI
VIDHYAPEETH (MH)
 ANGRAU : Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University.
(AP)
 IGKV : Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswavidyalaya
(Chhattisgarh)

16.  Coconut is monoecious plant with numerous male and
female flowers on each spadix which borne in the axil
of each leaf of a bearing palm.
 Flowering start at 6-12 years of age.
 Inflorescence length is about 1-2 m with central axis
and about 40 laterals branches called spikelets.
 Each spikelets bear 200-300 male flowers at the top
and 1 or 2 female flowers at the base.
 There are six stamens in male flower, female flowers
are 2-3 cm in diameter having a large ovary with three
locules and a stigma with three nectary glands.

17.  In tall variety female flowers do not become receptive
until all male flowers in same spadix have shed their
pollens.
 In dwarf and hybrid varieties interval between two phases
i.e. pollen dehiscence and stigma receptivity are less
thereby increasing the chances of self pollination.
 Due to the fact that maturation of inflorescence is a
progressive process, pollen discharge and anthesis is
continued for about 18-20 days.
 Generally, dwarf palms are considered as autogamous and
tall palms as allogamous but hybrids and dwarf types
exhibits both the types of pollination.

18.  Pollination in coconut is carried out by wind and insects
(bees are major pollinating agent).
 The fruit consist of exocarp ( outer skin), mesocarp
(fibrous layer) and endocarp which is ovoid shell along
with 3 ridge and seed (one) situated at calyx with a thin
brown testa attached to the edible endosperm.

19.  INTRODUCTION
 SELECTION
 HYBRIDIZATION
 BIOTECHNOLOGICAL TOOL
 Coconut breeding was started for the first time in
the world in 1916, at coconut research station
Neleshwar of Kerala.

20.  The different cultivars of coconut from Ceylon, Indo- China,
New Guenea, Java, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Fiji,
Laccadives etc. were introduced in India by Madras
Agriculture Department.
 The Cochin Department of Agriculture had also introduced
cultivars from Malaysia, sea Island, and Philippines and
recently cultivars from Solomon Islands, Borneo,
Seychelles, Panama, East Africa, West Indies, etc.
 Important varieties introduced from different countries are
Java, New Guenea, Cochinchines, Philippines, Laccadiv
Ordinary, Laccadiv Micro and West coast Tall.

21.  Mass selection can be used as effective methods in
improvement of coconut. In this method superior
mother palms are selected.
 The success of this method depends on the ability
of breeder and heritability of traits under
consideration.

22.  Coconut palm are being selected on the basis of following
characters.
a)Yield
 It should be regular bearer.
 Annual yield should not be less than 80 per palm.
 Copra content should be about 150g per nut.
b) Age of the plant
 It is advisable to select palm which have reached full bearing
stage and giving higher yield for conservatively four years.
 Selection of very old tree should be avoided.
 Seed nut should be collected from established seed garden

23. c) Nature and disposition of leaves
 A mother palm should have at least 30 fully opened leaves
on the crown.
 The leaves should have short and strong petiole with wide
leaf base firmly attached to the stem.
 Tree having a drooping or upright position of leaves are
generally avoided due to their poor yielding capacity.
 Female flower distribution per spike determines the yield
potential of tree.
 Generally every leaf axil should be one inflorescence with
several spike.
 There should be 12 bunches on the crown.

24. d) Size and shape of nut
 Size is variable factor and which varies from variety to
variety .
 Generally, these shapes are common in coconut i.e.
oblong, round and elliptical.
 Vigour of seedlings depend upon the size of the husked
nut, thickness of kernel and size of embryo present in
kernel.
 Palm producing barren nuts, irregular bearing should be
avoided for selection as mother palm.

25.  Process of identifying male transmitters can be speeded up
by the use of dwarf palm as female since they are largely
self pollinated and are reasonably homogenous.
 The following cross combination have been attempted in
coconut:
 Dwarf × Dwarf
 Tall × Dwarf
 Dwarf × Tall
 Tall × Tall

26.  Dwarf × Dwarf
 The crosses between D×D have not given satisfactory
results with respect to yield potential traits.
 Tall × Dwarf (T×D)
 The hybrid possess desirable traits such as precocity in
bearing, higher productivity than the parents.
 The important dwarf variety used as male parents are
Dwarf Orange, Dwarf Green, Gangabondam and Malayan
Dwarf yellow.
 It is reported that all the hybrid of Tall × Dwarf green,
Tall × Dwarf orange and Tall × Gangabondam exhibited
heterosis in the weight of nut, kernal content and nut
water.

27.  Among the male parents Dwarf Orange and
Gangabondam proved to be the best for production of
economic hybrids with West Coast Tall.
 In comparative trails involving West Coast Tall and LO as
female parents and COD and Gangabondam as male
parents the superior performance of LO × COD and CO ×
GB.
 COD and Gangabondam are the desirable pollen parents
and WCT and LO are desirable female parents.

28. o Examples
 Chandra Laksha (LO × COD)
 Laksha Ganga(LO × GB)
 VHC 1 (ECT × Dwarf Green)
 VHC 2 (ECT × MYD)
 Vera Sankara (WCT × COD)
 Anandaganga (AO × GB)
 Kera Ganga (WCT × GB)
 Kera sree (WCT × MYD)

29.  Dwarf × Tall
 These hybrids have been found to be of higher production
potential than T×D hybrids.
 The COD × WCT hybrids was found to have better
nutrient utilization ability and responded well to lower
levels of applied fertilizers
 Example : Chandra Sankara (COD × WCT).
 Tall × Tall
 The poor yield in tall combination may be due to the poor
combining ability of other parents.
 Thus emphasis need to select promising tall parents based
on combining ability traits.

30.  Embryo Culture and Tissue Culture
 Embryo culture has become an important tool for safe
germplasm exchange as it reduce the cost of
transportation and would meet the phytosanitory
regulations.
 It is useful for producing plantlets from special coconut
types such as Mohacha Naral, Thairu thengai etc.
where the endosperm is soft and jelly like and does not
germinate under normal conditions.
 Development of tissue culture techniques aimed at
rapid multiplication of elite planting material can
greatly save time, space, and resources.

31.  Molecular Biology
 DNA based markers possess the significantly increase the
efficiency of coconut breeding programmes.
 Various molecular markers viz, RAPD, RFLP and SSR
used for studying the genetic diversity in coconut
germplasm.
 At presently, work on characterization of conserved
coconut germplasm through SSR analysis, work on
identification if markers associated with economically
important traits as well as with dwarfness and for selection
of hybrid seedling in the nursery are in progress.

32.  Linkage Mapping and QTL Identifiction
 The first genome map for coconut was developed for an
East African Tall × Laguna Tall F1 population based on
ISTR markers.
 Three hundred and eighty two markers have been placed
in the map resulting in 16 linkage groups and leading to
the identification of six QTLs for early germination.
 Genetic correlation have been established between early
germination and early floering, and early germination and
high yield.
 Thus, this has become the first report of the opportunity
for marker assisted selection in coconut.

33.  Generation of new mapping populations including
coconut root (wilt) phytoplasma-resistant material is being
focused in india.

36.  Development of superior varieties for high yield,
tender nut quality, and inflorescence sap (neera)
etc.
 Development of short statured varieties to
overcome the shortage of experienced climbers in
many parts of country.
 Application of molecular markers to aid in
breeding programmes aiming for biotic and abiotic
stresses and identification of hybrid seedling in
coconut nurseries.

37.  Shukla Anil kumar, Shukla Arun Kumar, Vasishtha
B.B., Fruit Breeding Approaches and
Achievements.
 Shingh H.P., Thomas George V., Krishnakumar V.,
palms.
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