MANGALURU: Four varieties of coconut and cocoa developed by ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, will be released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 11. Dr K Balachandra Hebbar, Director, ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod said that Modi will release 109 Crop varieties developed by ICAR at Bharat Ratna C Subramaniam Auditorium, NASC Complex, New Delhi on Sunday.
The two varites include ‘Kalpa Suvarna’ and ‘Kalpa Shatabdi’ varities of coconuts, and two types of cocoa - ‘VTL CH1’ and ‘VTL CH2’ developed by ICAR - Central Plantation Crops research Institute (CPCRI) Kasaragod.
“It is a great opportunity for CPCRI as four of our varieties are released by the Prime Minister himself. Both the coconut varieties are climate-resilient and suitable to grow in the coastal belt. These varieties have high iron and zinc, and are good in terms of quality. So far we have released 21 coconut varieties,” Dr Balachandra said.
‘Kalpa Suvarna’ is a dwarf, high-yielding, dual-purpose coconut with green coloured, oblong fruits, with sweet tender coconut water and good quality copra. It is an early flowering variety (30-36 months after planting). The variety yields 108-130 nuts/palm/year, under good management and is recommended for cultivation in Kerala and Karnataka.
On the other hand, ‘Kalpa Shatabdi’ is a tall variety, with large fruits, suitable for copra and tender nut production. It bears greenish yellow fruits with greater volume (612 ml) of rich tender nut water. It yields high copra content (273g). The variety yields 105-148 nuts/palm/year, under good management.
VTL CH1 is an early bearing, high yielding cocoa hybrid with medium canopy, both under arecanut and coconut shades, suitable for high density planting with dry bean yield of 1.5 - 2.5 kg/tree/year in 15-18 m 2 canopy.
Beans are of international standard with 1-1.10 g weight, have processing value for chocolate industry.
‘VTL CH2’ is an early-bearing, high yielding cocoa hybrid with black pod rot disease resistance, suitable under arecanut and coconut gardens with dry bean yield of 1.5-2.5 kg/tree/year in 14-20m two canopy.
Beans are of international standard with 1-1.2g weight, have processing value for chocolate industry with 13% shelling, 87% nib recovery, 50% fat, 1% free fatty acids, and are rich in iron and zinc.