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

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noticeable setback to growth, the severity of which is related to the timing of the loss. At 12 months of age, with the kernel nearly exhausted and the fully independent young palm displaying seven or eight leaves, the seedling is ready to be transplanted into the field or garden. �e early leaves are ‘entire’, which means that each has a single large blade comprising leaflets that are joined at the edges. Later leaves display separated lower leaflets, while the upper ones remain joined. Before long, a leaf emerges on which all the leaflets are separated, and this form of leaf is referred to as a frond. �e earliness of the appearance of the first true frond varies considerably between varieties, and is another means of identification of genetic subgroups within the Tall group of coconut varieties. Growth of the independent seedling Under ideal conditions of plentiful water supply, a mean temperature around 27°C and fertile soil, the transplanted coconut seedling will grow very rapidly, each new frond emerging six weeks after the previous one. �e fronds become progressively longer and quicker to emerge during this phase, so that by the age of five years they are approaching the maximum length of around seven metres on Tall palms (three to five metres on Dwarfs) and are emerging every 25–30 days. A slower growth rate is brought about by prolonged dry weather, poor soil nutrient supply, insect damage or markedly cool seasonal weather, such as occurs in most inhabited coastal areas in northern Australia other than the extreme north of Cape York. Flowering begins �e Tall palm begins to flower between four and 10 years of age, while some Dwarf types flower earlier. �e flower, referred to as an inflorescence or flower bunch (because it has many branches bearing male flowers on the upper part of their length and female flowers lower down), is encased in a robust, spear-like sheath protruding up to one metre from the inner side of the base of its accompanying frond. �e tough ‘skin’ or casing of the fully extended sheath splits and shrinks back somewhat, leaving the multibranched inflorescence openly displayed. 47 �e newest inflorescence appears associated with the frond that has reached the 10th to 12th position down from the youngest emerging frond. �e tiny male flowers at the tips of the many inflorescence branches begin shedding their pollen immediately upon exposure, and those below them on each branch gradually follow suit over about three weeks. A few days after all pollenshedding is complete, the female flowers become ‘pollen-ready’ and will Figure 3-5. Newly emerged inflorescence featuring small ‘knoblike’ female flower-buds close to the near end of some branches, and numerous tiny male flowers attached along the length of each branch. (Asia Pacific Coconut Community)
usually be pollinated from another palm by either insect-borne or windborne pollen. A Tall palm growing in isolation is unlikely to set many fruit because of the usual poor ‘click’ or coincidence of its male and female flower activity. It has been noticed, however, that in midsummer in Australia (mean temperature around 27–30°C), and also quite commonly among domesticated palms in wet season conditions in the tropics, the rate of emergence of new flowers is more rapid. �is generates an overlap, so that pollen from the following inflorescence sometimes reaches the pollen-ready female flowers of the previous inflorescence, allowing up to 60% self-pollinated fruit to set. In contrast to the high rate of crosspollination in Talls, most Dwarfs self-pollinate up to 90% of the time, because the male and female phases are active at the same time within each inflorescence. Such palms readily set fruit in isolation. What gives the palm crown its great shape? �e crown of the palm is made up of 20–35 fronds, depending on how favourable the growing environment is. �e fronds emerging in sequence from the central bud of the palm conform to a set geometrical pattern of angular separation around the circumference of the palm trunk. It is convenient to use the navigation term ‘azimuth’ to refer to this angle of separation of fronds, as if they were all attached to the centre of a horizontal circle surrounding the trunk. 48 If frond 1 in a series is given the azimuth angle of zero degrees, frond 2 will be located at plus or minus 140 degrees, frond 3 at 280 degrees, frond 4 past the starting angle at 60 degrees on the second circuit, frond 5 at 200 degrees and frond 6 at 340 degrees, 20 degrees short of Figure 3-6. Diagram illustrating the location of successive semi-circular frond base attachments to the trunk of the coconut palm. �e circled numbers show that the fifth frond either up or down from frond 1 is only 20 degrees of angle short of being on a line directly above or below frond 1. Cumulative degrees of angle anti-clockwise from frond 1 are shown on the lines radiating from the centre of the trunk.
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 18 and 19: Evolution of the coconut �e ocean
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 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
Page 78 and 79: 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
Page 92 and 93: produced particularly in India and
Page 94 and 95: is lit at one end (requiring coals
Page 96 and 97: Coconut sap for toddy and sugar In
Page 98 and 99:
(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
Page 118 and 119:
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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