Browsing by Author "Nagvekar, D."

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Identification and Characterization of in Situ Drought Tolerant Palms in Farmers Fields in Different Agro-Climatic Zones
    (2002) Naresh Kumar, S.; Rajagopal, V.; Siju Thomas, T.; Vinu K. Cherian; Hanumathappa, M.; Anil Kumar; Srinivasulu, B.; Nagvekar, D.
    Coconut palms are mainly grown as rainfed crop, and are exposed to drought of different intensities and durations in various parts of the country. It is important to identify and conserve the ecotypes, which could withstand the vagaries of nature and still performed better in terms of growth and yield. Such efforts will ensure that the natural genetic variability and desirable traits are identified and conserved for further exploitation. With this in view present survey was undertaken in farmers fields at different agro-climatic zones, viz., Western coastal area - hot sub-humid-per-humid (Ratnagiri - Maharastra), hot semi arid (Arisikere - Karnataka) and Eastern coastal plains- hot sub-humid (Ambajipeta- Andhra Pradesh), which represent the major coconut growing areas in India. These places faced periodical durought during last 15 years and the dry spell was longer in Ratnagiri (216 days) and Arsikere (202 days). During survey drought affected and apparently tolerant palms were selected based on morphology. The data indicate that in situ drought tolerant palms had more number of leaves, bunch and mature nuts compared to the affected palms. Gas exchange characters were also high in apparently tolerant palms. These palms also exhibited good water use efficiency. However, the biochemical composition did not show any definite trend between tolerant and susceptible types. The superiority of these palms in the photosynthetic parameters showed their capacity for drought tolerance and high yield. The tolerant palms can be used as mother palms in breeding programme for drought tolerance.