The coconut odyssey - the bounteous possibilities of the ... - ACIAR

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Evolution of the coconut �e ocean to the north of the migrating Indian and Australian landmasses and associated islands, 40 to 60 million years ago, is known in retrospect as the Tethys Sea. Occupying tropical and subtropical latitudes and being accessible to the great equatorial Pacific Ocean current, this vast body of water is likely to have been warm and stormy. �e behaviour of the weather in modern warm seas suggests that periodic cyclones battered the coastal vegetation of the islands and large landmasses that were inching across the Tethys Sea on their tectonic plates. Frequent exposure to cyclones would have favoured the evolution of many of the wild coconut palm’s critical traits. Figure 1-1. Notional position of land fragments (dark brown) around the Tethys sea 40 million years before present (BP) in relation to the present position of those lands (dotted outlines). �e great westward-flowing warm equatorial current of the tropical Pacific ocean flowed, in that bygone geological era, into the Tethys Sea, unobstructed by the islands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia which now divert its flow into both the north and south Pacific. 17 One vital adaptation was the development of a flexible trunk that elongates rapidly in the early life of the palm, eventually becoming able to bend without snapping in violent winds. During very strong wind gusts of cyclonic storms, the trunk of the coconut can be seen bent almost to the ground, with a hardy narrow cluster of vertical fronds resisting the wind while the lower fronds are whipped back and forth and finally detached. �is has the ‘clever’ side-effect of easing the pressure on the palm trunk as the crown size diminishes. During the normal growth of a mature palm, the younger fronds push the old fronds outwards at the base, weakening their attachment to the trunk and preparing them to be shed progressively under the stress of a persistent buffeting wind. �e overall force of the wind on the palm is reduced as outer fronds are broken away, leaving the central core of fronds to ride out the storm. �is reduces the risk of fatal damage to the solitary bud concealed at the centre of the palm crown. �e fruit of the wild coconut palm floats remarkably well because of its thick, low-density husk, which absorbs water very slowly. Fruits
can float for up to four months on the ocean and still germinate when placed on dry land. Trials in both Hawaii and Solomon Islands have been conducted in which the fruits were floated in cages constructed in calm harbours. Nuts were transferred to the nursery at intervals, to await germination. Even after 120 days floating in the sea, some seeds germinated. Besides acting as a buoyant container for the coconut seed, the husk is soft enough to cushion the seed inside when it falls onto a rocky spot, but still hard enough to injure any creature, large or small, unlucky enough to stray into its ‘flight path’. �e evolution of the palm’s hardy floating seed, able to survive months at sea and travel up to many thousands of kilometres depending on the speed of the current, guaranteed the coconut’s wide dispersal. Other adaptations allowed it to sprout in its new home. Imagine the seed arriving, eventually, on a remote shore, pushed up onto a sandy or gravelly spot, perhaps within reach of the king tide—a precarious and harsh environment. Its survival now depends upon the reserve of kernel (endosperm) that it carries to support early growth. Remember that the structure that gave it buoyancy must now be overcome by emerging roots forcing their way through to get a hold on the soil, and by an upthrusting shoot that needs to emerge beyond the husk before it unfolds its first leaf. So precarious is the perch of the coconut thrown ashore by the ocean, that it has evolved a large seed within its outer husk, containing 18 sufficient kernel (hundreds of grams, in fact) to sustain growth until the roots reach sweet water deep beneath the sand, and until there are five or six young fronds to capture enough solar energy to become independent of the seed’s reserve. In some ways, this resembles the reproductive strategy of placental mammals, which nourish their young first in the womb and then from a milk supply after birth. Figure 1-2. Lower fronds of mature Tall coconut palms being severely flexed by the wind during a cyclone, while the vertical cluster of upper fronds remains firm. Loss of lower fronds in such wind increases the chance of the palm weathering the storm.
Page 1 and 2: The coconut odyssey the bounteous p
Page 4 and 5: �e coconut odyssey the bounteous
Page 6: Foreword Coconut is a tree of great
Page 9 and 10: �e strand posed few biohazards .
Page 11 and 12: Traditional coconut cream and milk
Page 14 and 15: Preface Few plants are more univers
Page 16 and 17: chapter 1 �e coconut odyssey begi
Page 20 and 21: In this way, the coconut palm evolv
Page 22 and 23: Figure 1-5. Zones of latitude withi
Page 24 and 25: ships bound for Cuba and other isla
Page 26 and 27: as the seedling develops. It secret
Page 28 and 29: But there was another motive. Durin
Page 30 and 31: Figure 1-12. Four seasonal mean tem
Page 32 and 33: midwinter, the central heating kept
Page 34 and 35: chapter 2 Surprising diversity amon
Page 36 and 37: Dwarfs have far fewer varieties tha
Page 38 and 39: �ey are also notably better adapt
Page 40 and 41: �e Niu Leka produces many interme
Page 42 and 43: Figure 2-6. Aerial view of North Ke
Page 44 and 45: chapter 3 �e life story of a palm
Page 46 and 47: �e embryo of the seed is conceale
Page 48 and 49: noticeable setback to growth, the s
Page 50 and 51: completing the second full circle.
Page 52 and 53: Why does the palm on the strand lea
Page 54 and 55: Figure 3-12. �e exposed roots of
Page 56 and 57: chapter 4 Taking the plunge looking
Page 58 and 59: Annual rainfall of 2000 mm, which i
Page 60 and 61: Figure 4-2. Crowded palms, showing
Page 62 and 63: Figure 4-4. Fruitless and therefore
Page 64 and 65: chapter 5 Caring for the palm from
Page 66 and 67: Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, par
Page 68 and 69:
�e only known coconut disease att
Page 70 and 71:
least in the early years) will not
Page 72 and 73:
Table 5.1. Visual symptoms of some
Page 74 and 75:
Table 5.2. Critical levels for mine
Page 76 and 77:
chapter 6 �e productive palm pote
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from a palm with a 10-metre trunk.
Page 80 and 81:
Figure 6-5a. A less likely disaster
Page 82 and 83:
Where there is ready access to a to
Page 84 and 85:
chapter 7 �e fruit and its parts
Page 86 and 87:
have provided the foundation for a
Page 88 and 89:
traces of many minerals, such as po
Page 90 and 91:
Figure 7-3. Coconut milk being sque
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produced particularly in India and
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is lit at one end (requiring coals
Page 96 and 97:
Coconut sap for toddy and sugar In
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(400-600 kg/m 3 ), and finally ther
Page 100 and 101:
Precision cutting recovers the best
Page 102 and 103:
even one metre would be enough to
Page 104 and 105:
Preparing a ‘tender nut’: a spe
Page 106 and 107:
little water left inside. Select on
Page 108 and 109:
Recovering the kernel �e kernel c
Page 110 and 111:
Small, 10-mm cubed pieces of fresh
Page 112 and 113:
chapter 10 �e coconut’s industr
Page 114 and 115:
using annual oil crops. Until then,
Page 116 and 117:
which is the largest exporter. Indi
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on the separation of oil from its e
Page 120 and 121:
skills. �e introduction of simple
Page 122 and 123:
chapter 11 �e wonder food Since a
Page 124 and 125:
Saturated and unsaturated fats Mark
Page 126 and 127:
double bonds are shown beside the n
Page 128 and 129:
Independent researchers in the Unit
Page 130 and 131:
molecules entering into the chemist
Page 132 and 133:
Issue Detail Comments 10. High melt
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The coconut odyssey - the bounteous possibilities of the ... - ACIAR

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