Typology in the fertility of seven Tall coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) populations using artificial pollination traits in field genebank

Abstract

This study investigates the fertility typology for seven Tall coconut accessions using artificial pollination characters. Ten traits describing fertility were considered for characterizing three groups of coconut individuals per accession. Ten males parental, twenty to forty female parental, and ten progenies were randomly explored per coconut accession. Except for the rate of seeds germination, the outcomes revealed the usefulness of the characters assessed for the discrimination of the accessions studied. The typology of the fertility of the accessions studied is independent of the origins and highlighted two main groups. The first group gathers Laccadive Common Tall (LCT) and West African Tall (WAT and WAT6) accessions including the most fertile male parents and the females showing great production of seed nuts. From this group, the progenies set out a lack of vigour. The second group is constituted of Panama Tall (PNT01 and PNT02), Solomon Island Tall (SIT) and Gazelle Peninsula Tall (GPT) accessions with characters opposite to the previous ones. The investigations of the Tall coconut accessions fertility are fundamental to address the low size of genitors and progenies for respective field genebank regeneration and representative field replanting.