Abstract

The coconut (Cocos nucifera Linn.) has been an import- ant oil yielding crop of the Tropics from ancient times and it still figures prominent in the edible oil industry of the world despite competition from other sources of edible oil supply. Though some attention is being besto- wed on the selection of seed material, nothing appreciable seems to have been done elsewhere to produce economic types by cross-breeding different varieties. This is probably due to the fact that it takes normally 8 to 10 years for a coconut tree to come to the flowering stage and many more years should elapse before its bearing capacity can be fully assessed. The added risk of finding the cross progenies unproductive or uneconomic after they have been maintained at considerable expenditure for several years might have also deterred the enthusiasm of the few workers on this crop who might have conceived the idea of cross-breeding in coconuts.

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