Читать книгу Biotechnology of Fruit and Nut Crops - Группа авторов - Страница 109

Coconut farming faces a wide range of challenges, e.g. the unpredictability of the market for its traditional products; however, the high value of virgin coconut oil has helped create a new opportunity for many producers. The coconut palm is vulnerable to insect and microbial hazards that are specific to particular locations (Harrison and Jones, 2003; Lee, 2013; Gurr et al., 2016). Productivity is also affected by the advanced age of many plantations, most dating from the early to mid-20th century. Fruit production is reduced with age, due to declining leaf area, as fronds become shorter and fewer. This often combines with the rundown of soil fertility and random damage from extreme weather events (Sisunandar et al., 2010a; Samosir and Adkins, 2014). The production potential of higher, stable-yield-producing palms has not yet been achieved (Samosir and Adkins, 2004; Batugal et al., 2009). Traditional breeding approaches alone are unlikely to deliver increasing productivity (Thanh-Tuyen and De Guzman, 1983; Batugal et al., 2009).

Due to the inconsistency in the market value of traditional products, there has been a shift towards coconut products with greater commercial value that show promise for sustaining livelihoods of coconut smallholders as well as reinvigorating the entire industry (Nguyen et al., 2016). Elite coconut varieties having uniquely appealing endosperm attributes (tasty jelly-like endosperm and/or an aromatic juice) are also of great interest. These forms have the potential to deliver a farm-gate price many times greater than that farmers currently receive.

The ability to affordably multiply elite coconut types or those with biological hazard resistance via clonal propagation has the potential to provide coconut producers with enhanced income and some lowering of the risk of destruction of palms by pests and diseases (Nguyen et al., 2015). Further improvements could be achieved through early diagnosis of disease using molecular tools, e.g. loop-mediated isothermal amplification, remote sensing for identification of symptomatic palms and gene editing techniques for desirable breeding outcomes (Gurr et al., 2016).