Coconut - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 156

Figure 9.3. Tender nuts of the 'King' coconut variety of Sri Lanka. For color detail, please see color plate
section.

variety is orange, the nuts in the tender stage may look
attractive. This gives a commercial value for the variety
Aurantica, and hence the palms are mostly harvested in their
tender stage (Fig. 9.3) for drinking purposes. As the nut
size is smaller in comparison to those of the Typica variety,
mature nuts from this variety are not preferred for copra
production. However, the oil from this variety is highly
preferred in the traditional Ayurveda medicinal system as
an ingredient for various formulations.

pared to the open-pollinated Sri Lankan tall, the Philippine-
originated 'San Ramon' has been well known for its larger
nut size as well as higher copra yield. This has led to the de-
velopment of a new cultivar known as 'CRISL 98' ( Ta l l ×
San Ramon ) through hybridization between Sri Lankan Ta l l
and Philippine-originated 'San Ramon.' As shown in Table
9.3, the per nut weight and per nut copra yield of 'CRISL
98' were much higher than those of either 'CRIC 60' or
'CRIC 65.' In the development of improved cultivars in
Sri Lanka, the latest addition was the cross-hybridization
between the Dwarf Green and the Philippine-originated
'San Ramon.' This was introduced to the plantation sector
in 2004 as a new cultivar known as 'Kapruwana' ( Dwarf
Green

Improved hybrid crosses of coconut
Intervarietal crosses are carried out for improving strains of
coconut with different agronomic traits (Liyanage, 1958).
In Sri Lanka, the early hybrid crossings were mainly car-
ried out between different tall and dwarf varieties. As a
result of this, two improved cultivars of coconut namely,
'CRIC 60' ( Ta l l

San Ramon ). Most of the agronomical characters
of 'Kapruwana' including the ability to withstand drought
are comparable to those of the best coconut hybrids devel-
oped so far in the world (Jayasekara, 2004). Some of the
salient characters of this cultivar have been summarized in
Table 9.3.

×

Ta l l )were
released after many years of field evaluation (Fernando,
1999). The husked nut weight and per nut copra yield of
the cultivar 'CRIC 60' were slightly higher than those of
the open pollinated tall variety (Table 9.3). As 'CRIC 65'
is susceptible to severe dry weather condition, it is more
suitable for planting in the wet zone with well-distributed
rainfall. It is often recommended for home gardening pur-
poses due to its short stature as well as high nut yielding
potentials. Although per nut copra yield of this cultivar is
lower than 'CRIC 60,' its yield potential is relatively high
(about 100-120 nuts/palm/year).
For crop improvement purposes, hybrid crossing has also
been done between local and exotic varieties. When com-

× Ta l l ) and 'CRIC 65' ( Dwarf ×

HARVESTING AND POSTHARVEST
STORAGE
Coconut palms usually take several years to reach full-
bearing status after planting. In countries like Sri Lanka,
harvesting of coconuts in the estate sector is mostly done
at bimonthly intervals or once in every 45 days. The inter-
val between two successive harvests might change due to
the weather pattern. Usually, longer periods of dry weather
might accelerate the nut maturation process, and as a re-
sult, ripe nuts may start to fall before the scheduled harvest.