Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at Horticultural Research Station (AICRP on Palms), Kahikuchi of Assam Agricultural University for three consecutive years (2018-20) to study the initial performance of cocoa clones as intercrop in adult coconut (Cocos nucifera L) garden spaced at 7.5 m × 7.5 m taking sixteen cocoa clones. Data on tree height, stem girth, number of pods, pod weight, number of beans pod-1, dry bean weight tree-1 year-1 and single dry bean weight revealed significant variations among the 16 cocoa clones. Dried beans are the prime economic produce of cocoa, and single dry bean weight ranged from 0.95 to 1.4 g. With respect to dry bean yield tree-1, VTLC-20 recorded a significantly higher dry bean yield of 2.2 kg tree-1 followed by VTLC-18 (1.5 kg tree-1) compared to other cocoa clones, and eight clones yielded more than 1.0 kg dry bean tree-1. Results showed that the number of leaves on the crown, number of inflorescences per palm and nut yield of coconut was not negatively affected; rather, there was an increase in the yield of coconut over a period.
Highlights
India’s share in global cocoa production is negligible; the crop has tremendous potential to develop as a monetary crop
Assam has became the latest state in the country to start cocoa cultivation, hitherto confined to southern states, with the availability of around one lakh hectares under coconut and arecanut gardens
Cocoa entries screened for yield and quality were planted across AICRP on Palms centres to evaluate their performance under coconut and oil palm-based cropping systems (Maheswarappa et al, 2019)
Summary
India’s share in global cocoa production is negligible; the crop has tremendous potential to develop as a monetary crop. India produced 19,866 tonnes of cocoa beans from 88,515 hectares with a productivity of 580 kg ha-1 in the year 2020 (DCCD, 2020). Cocoa is grown primarily as an intercrop (under palms) in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as the crop needs about 40-50 per cent shade. More than two-thirds of cocoa are grown in coconut (Thomas et al, 2010) and around a fifth with arecanut (Sujatha et al, 2011), followed by oil palm (Bhagya and Suresh, 2018) and rubber (Rubber Board, 2011) plantations. Assam has became the latest state in the country to start cocoa cultivation, hitherto confined to southern states, with the availability of around one lakh hectares under coconut and arecanut gardens.
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