1Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Kumulur-621 712, Tamil Nadu, India
2Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
3Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Navalurkottapattu, Trichy-620 027, Tamil Nadu, India
4Department of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai-625 104, Tamil Nadu, India
5Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Sirugamani-639 115, Tamil Nadu, India
6Department of Physical Sciences and Information Technology, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
*Corresponding Author: B. Kailashkumar, Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Kumulur-621 712, Tamil Nadu, India, Email: kkailash35@gmail.com
Online published on 9 May, 2023.
Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is a significant cash crop in the humid tropics of India. The quality, variety and types of coconut palm vary from one place to other. Nowadays, the lack of skilled climbers for tree climbing is a serious problem experienced by coconut farmers. The adoption of drone technology in coconut cultivation is considered to enhance the productivity of coconut. The current study aimed to study the biometrics of different varieties of coconut trees to design and develop a drone-based spraying and harvesting system which suits all types of coconut palms.
The major parameters influencing drone spraying and harvesting design are crop, machine and meteorological parameters. The crop parameters for the palms were measured by using standard techniques. The prominent varieties include West coast tall, Coconut - ALR (CN) 1, Coconut - ALR (CN) 3, Chowghat orange dwarf, Chowghat green dwarf, Malaysian yellow dwarf, East coast tall and Chandra Kalpa were selected. The biometric data were observed from the randomly selected healthy coconut trees.
The eight major coconut varieties were selected and their biometric data was observed. It was concluded that the observations aided in deciding the design of the drone components as well as the spraying and harvesting mechanism suitable for coconut palms.
Bunch, Coconut, Leaf, Peduncle, Petiole, Variety
