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International Journal of Plant Breeding and Genetics

Year: 2013 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 57-64
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Authors

J.O. Odewale

M.N. Okoye

G. Odiowaya

J.M. Ahanon

C.I. Agho

Keywords

Research Article

Bunch and Nut Production of Surviving Coconut Palms in Lethal Yellowing Disease Endemic Area of Nigeria

J.O. Odewale, M.N. Okoye, G. Odiowaya, J.M. Ahanon and C.I. Agho
Until recently, bunch and nut yield has dominated the previous coconut breeding programmes in Nigeria. With the outbreak of Awka wilt Lethal Yellowing Disease (LYD), research focus in coconut breeding has been drastically changed due to decline in yield and the high susceptibility of the local land race, the West African Tall (WAT). Hence, the evaluation of the comparative performance of different coconut varieties surviving under natural field conditions in an LYD endemic area of Nigeria. Five coconut varieties (Malayan Green Dwarf (MGD), Malayan Yellow Dwarf (MYD), Malayan Orange Dwarf (MOD), WAT and Hybrid (HY) varieties) derived from the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) Tall and Exotic Malayan Dwarf parents were evaluated for bunch and nut production for a period of seven years. Data was subjected to simple measures of variability while the pattern of variation was deduced using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results indicate that the surviving palms in the respective varieties are vigorous with the dwarf varieties showing more resistance to LYD when compared with WAT. However, WAT recorded the highest yield (8.1 and 63.7) for bunch and nut production, respectively. Very high variation ranging from 13.5-16.8% was observed for nut yield. Evidence of biennial rhythm was revealed among the palms across the years. The number of nuts/palm/year and bunch production/palm/year was highest in year 2007 with a range of 42.2-83.8 and 7.2-8.6, respectively. The distribution of the measured traits was very discrete in the WAT variety when compared to the other dwarf varieties. The rank correlation coefficient revealed very high significant positive coefficients for bunch and nut yield. Despite the relatively poor performance of the varieties, the high yielding palms would be used in crossing programme for the production of Breeders’ Test Materials (BTM) for further testing whilst serving as a germplasm base for resistance breeding.
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Comments

Chuka Vincent Reply

Very educative. Cocnut is not indigenous to our country but it has become a household crop because of the litany of uses to which it can be subjected to. The issue of LYD has been a very critical issue because of the poor yield in the recent times. Please, can you send this article to me for detailed perusal.

maxwell Okoye Reply

My gratitude to Science Alert Journals for their painstaking and prompt publication of this research work. Thank you very much!

Ejido Bosah Reply

Splendid work Odewale et al! Please I'm interested in Coconut plantation. How do I get about it especially in the light of the LYD prevalence. Thanks!

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