Drought management technology package soon
Drought is a serious risk in coconut cultivation. The recent drought spell in Tamil Nadu wiped out many coconut plantations. Field experiments under artificially created drought conditions of different intensities with selected treatments should be a priority area, C. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said here recently.Addressing the plenary session of the two-day annual research meet on coconut at the university, he said a "drought management technology package" should be developed immediately."Coconut is increasingly becoming an economically important crop and the area under cultivation is growing rapidly in Tamil Nadu. In addition to the package, it is also planned to develop different irrigation models for coconut farms including those along bunds in the university's research stations. These measures will benefit the farmers," the Vice-Chancellor said.Prof. Ramasamy said more plantations were emerging due to increased investments in coconut by business groups and industrialists.The preference of people towards coconut water had increased and that had created the new demand, he added.The three coconut research stations of the university had proposed to intensify breeding programmes.
They would develop new coconut varieties and hybrids with desirable characteristics like increased nut yield, tolerance towards biotic and a-biotic stresses, quantity of coconut water and oil content.The university would also concentrate on value addition using nanotechnology for developing new coconut products and preservation of coconut water.The Vice-Chancellor expressed discontent over the existing harvesting system of coconut that was labour intensive, slow and expensive. He appealed to the scientists to work on devising an economical coconut harvester with the help of research institutions and innovative farmers.T.S. Raveendran, Director of Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics of the university, said the centre proposed to release a coconut hybrid that was drought tolerant and capable of yielding 165 nuts per palm per year.
S. Natarajan, Director of Centre for Soil and Crop Management Studies of the university, said precision-farming technologies would soon be developed for coconut cultivation.Samiyappan, Director of Centre for Plant Protection Studies of the university, said large-scale demonstrations on Integrated Pest Management for key pest and disease problems was in progress across the State.
