Abstract

It is generally the rule in plant life, as in the case of animal life, that the characters of the parent determine the progeny. The object of this study on coconut is to find out how far the visible characters of a tree influence its yielding quality and whether this yielding quality can be improved, modified or altered by cultural and manurial treatments. It is a matter of common observation that, in spite of similar conditions of light, spacing, cultivation and manuring, remarkable differences are often seen between individual trees of any coconut garden, not only in the yielding capacity, but also in the colour, size and shape of nuts. Seed-selection is an important, well-recognized fact in the case of any crop, and especially so in the case of any valuable perennial crop like coconut. The attempt at seed-selection to improve the progeny, in the case of coconuts, has not always been attended with happy results. The writer had read before the Science Congress at Benares in 1924 a paper on Pollination in Coconut where it was stated that Nature has fitted the coconut tree mostly for cross-fertilization, although there is provision for self-fertilization as well. Even under very careful selection of seednuts, one notices all sorts of variations in the trees. In the Government coconut stations at Nileshwar and Pilicode of South Kanara, though the seeds were collected from some of the best trees available on the West Coast under the direct supervision of responsible officers, variations are observed in the young trees. Attempts are, however, being made in the Government coconut stations to make a study of self-pollinated seeds.

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