Lecture 25
Coconut & Date

Coconut (Cocos nucifera)

The word coco derives from the word monkey because the nut resembles a monkey's face.
Coconut is the most important of cultivated palms.
Origin in southeast Asia with secondary center in India.

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Morphology

  • An unbranched monoecious palm, 40 to 100 ft tall, 8-24 inches in diameter
  • Flowers in the 6th year.
  • Matures 16–18 months after pollination
  • Fruits weigh 2–3 pounds each, are 24% water.

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    Uses

  • Trunk: Source of timber
  • Leaves: Thatch
  • Flowering stalk: tapped for sugar source of alcoholic beverage (palm wine (toddy); spirit (arrack)
  • Nuts (many products)
  • Whole coconuts
  • Copra (dried kernel)
  • Coconut oil
  • Coconut oil cake
  • Fiber (coir)
  • Desiccated shredded coconut
  • Coconut milk and coconut protein
  • Shell for charcoal
    •
  • 1 metric ton of copra, yield of 5500 nuts
  • 1 metric ton of oil, yield of 8960 nuts

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    Coconut: 2001 World Production

    Continent 1000 tonnes Chief countries
    World 50,886  
    Africa   1,750 Tanzania (350), Ghana (315), Mozambique (300)
    North America   1,933 Mexico (1,163), Dominican Rep. (331), Jamaica (115)
    South America   2,339 Brazil (1,999), Venezuela (111), Colombia (91)
    Asia 42,559 Indonesia (14,300), Philippines (13,214), India (9,000)
    Oceania   2,305 Papua New Guinea (1,032), Solomon (330), Vanuatu (248)

    Propagation

  • Plant is seed propagated.
  • Embryo is dormant up to 6 weeks after harvest.
  • Coconut is usually 2/3 covered with soil.
  • Seedlings are transplanted at 5–6 mo.
  • A desirable type is called macapuno with jelly-like endosperm and acts as a genetic recessive.
  • However recessive types are sterile because nuts do not germinate.
  • Selfing the heterozygote produces 25% macapuno nuts.
  • Could be overcome by embryo culture.
  • Need for tissue culture propagation.

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    Harvest

    Nuts per hectare of mature trees
    Tall 4,000–6,000
    Dwarf 8,000–10,000
    Tall x Dwarf 4,000–6,000

     

    Future of the crop is for use in intercropping systems.
    This is a low input crop mostly produced by small holders.
    Coconut oil is widely used to manufacture detergents.

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    Date (Phoenix dactyliferas)

    Cultivated in arid parts of the Near East since 4000 BCE.
    A dioecious plant with staminate and pistillate trees.
    Must be pollinated to get good fruit set.

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    Date: 2001 World Production

    Continent 1000 tonnes Chief countries
    World 5,353  
    Africa 1,981 Egypt (1,102), Algeria (370), Sudan (177)
    North America       18 US (15), Mexico (3)
    Asia 3,346 Iran (900), Saudi Arabia (712), Pakistan (550)
    Europe         7 Spain (7)

  • Rich source of nutrients when dried, 70% carbohydrates, 2% protein, 2.4% fat.
  • Dates can be fermented into arrack, a potent spirit.
  • Fronds used for basketry and thatch.
  • Propagated by suckers but is very slow.
  • A plant of a good cultivar may be worth $200–500 each.
  • At the present time tissue culture using somatic embryos is being used.
  • A single tree can produce 100 pounds of dates.
  • Must be irrigated to abtain high yields.
  • Baud disease, a fusarium, is causing losses in North Africa.
  • Fruit cluster is protected by wrapping in plastic.

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    Dates, California

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    Dates

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    Date palm inflorescence

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    Dwarfed Dates

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    Date Palms, California

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    Dates, Sinai peninsula

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    Oasis, Sinai

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    Oasis in Sinai

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    Oasis in Sinai

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    Date, Sinai

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    Desert Inn, Beersheba, Israel

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    Date Palm Negev, Israel

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    Horses (weed control) and dates, Negev, Israel

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    Horses (weed control) and dates, Negev, Israel

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    Camels and dates, weed control, Negev, Israel

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    Camel birthing, Negev, Israel

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    Camel birthing, Negev, Israel

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    Camel birthing, Negev, Israel

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    Camel birthing, Negev, Israel

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    Date factory, Israel

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    Dates, Israel

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    Dates

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    Date Varieties

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    Date trials, Puerto Rico

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