1ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Research Centre, Kahikuchi, Guwahati-781017, Assam, India
2ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod-671124, Kerala, India
3Central Horticultural Experiment Station, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bhubaneswar-751019, Orissa, India
*Address for Correspondence: Punya, C/o Dr. Manoj Kumar, Division of Vegetable Science & Floriculture, F.O.A., Main Campus, SKUAST-Jammu, Chatha (Jammu and Kashmir)-180009
Online published on 22 February, 2021.
Flowering behavior of thirteen local coconut genotypes was studied in the winter period (October-January) during 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 at ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Research Centre, Kahikuchi. Floral traits viz. , inflorescence length, stalk length, number of spikelet per inflorescence, girth of stalk, length of spikelet bearing portion, number of male and female flowers, sex-ratio, duration of male and female flowers, intra-spadix overlapping and number of inflorescence produced per month were recorded. Analysis of the mean data, indicated significant differences for all recorded traits, except the number of inflorescences produced during the four months observation period. Average monthly inflorescence production per palm was higher in KKHC-4 (0.90) and KKHC-3 (0.81) genotypes.
Average female flower production (inferred from the number of female flowers per inflorescence) was found to be significantly higher in KKHC 3 (29.26) and KKHC 4 (27.69) genotypes, with lowest in KKHC 13 (6.85). Percentage of female to male flowers, among the genotypes varied from 0.60% (KKHC 3) to 0.27% (KKHC 13), with KKHC 3, KKHC 1 and KKHC 4 showing significantly higher ratio as compared to the rest of the accessions. Interestingly, though these are all tall genotypes, intra-spadix overlapping of the male and female phases was observed in all the genotypes, indicating the uniqueness of the coconut population in Assam, with
higher duration of overlapping observed in KKHC 4 (3.60).
Coconut, Floral biology, Traits, Weather, Genotypes
