Cultivation Practices

Arecanut is propagated only by seeds. Being a perennial crop, adequate care should be taken in selecting the planting material. There are four steps in selection and raising of arecanut seedlings viz., selection of mother palms, selection of seed nuts, germination and raising the seedlings and selection of seedlings.

Selection of site:

Select sites with deep well drained soil without high water table. Provide adequate irrigation facilities

Selection of mother palms:

The criteria for the selection of mother palm are; early bearing, regular bearing habit, semi tall to dwarf stature, large number of leaves on the crown, shorter internodes and high fruit set.

Selection of seed nut:

Fully ripened nuts from middle bunches having weight of above 35 g should be selected during mid season. The nuts selected should float vertically with calyx-end pointing upwards when allowed to float on water. These nuts produce the seedlings of greater vigour.

Nursery techniques:

         Sow selected seed nuts soon after harvest in nursery bed with stalk-end up and with a spacing of 5-6 cm. Cover the seed nuts with sand and irrigate daily. Transplant 90 days old sprouts having 2-3 leaves to the secondary nursery. Prepare secondary nursery beds of 150 cm width and convenient length. Apply cattle manure @ 5 t ha-1 as basal dose. Transplant sprouts at a spacing of 30 cm x 30 cm. Provide shade by growing banana, Coccinia indica etc or by means of artificial pandal. Plant banana in advance at a spacing of 2.7 m x 3.6 m when it is grown as a shade crop. Provide irrigation during hot and dry periods and drainage during monsoon. Periodical weeding and mulching are necessary.

Selection of seedlings:

Select good seedlings for transplanting in the main field when they are 12-18 months old. Selection of seedlings can be based on the selection index. Multiplying leaf number by 40 and subtracting the seedling height gives the selection index. Select seedlings with higher selection index values.

Example: Seedling height = 90 cm, Leaf number = 5 Selection index = (5 x 40)–90 = 110 (If for instance, index values range between 50 and 150, select seedlings with higher values to the extent possible). Uproot the seedlings with the ball of earth attached to them for transplanting.

Note: Plant characters such as girth at the collar one year after transplanting and number of nodes two years after transplanting are highly correlated with yield. Removal of plants with poor collar girth and lesser number of nodes one and two years after planting respectively, will help to increase the yield potential of plantations.

Field Planting

Selection of site and layout:

The crop thrives well in humid areas protected well against hot sun and heavy wind. Since the areca palm does not withstand either water logging or drought, the site selected should have proper drainage and adequate source of water for irrigation. Arecanut palm cannot withstand extreme temperature and exposure to direct sun. So the site selected should have protection from southern and western sides. The soil depth and the depth of water table are other two parameters to be considered while selecting the site. The soil should be deep (preferably not less than two meters) and water table should be sufficiently low for better root development. Aligning the rows in north-south direction with a deviation of 35º towards south-west lowers the incidence of sun-scorch.

Spacing:

This depends on the rooting pattern of the crop along with the fertility and depth of the soil. The studies conducted at different places with different spacing have revealed that a spacing of 2.7 m X 2.7 m is optimum for arecanut. This was justified by the root distribution studies also.

Planting:

Dig pits of size 60 x 60 x 60 cm and fill up with rich top soil to a level of 15 cm from the bottom. Plant seedlings at the center of the pit, cover with soil up to collar level and press around.  In well-drained soils and in the fields where proper drainage can be provided, deep planting is preferred. Deeper planting provides a firm anchorage and larger volume of space for root development. In areas where water table is high, shallow planting is preferred. Thus in well-drained soils, planting at a depth of 90 cm is recommended and in heavy soils planting at a depth of 60 cm is recommended.

Season of planting:

In areas where South-West monsoon is severe, planting in the month of September-October is recommended. The planting is to be done during May-June in well drained soils and during August-September in clayey soils

Shading:

The palms are highly susceptible for sun scorching. The seedlings should be given protection against the direct exposure to sun. This may be done by either covering the plants with areca or coconut leaves or by raising crops like banana in between two rows of arecanut. Sun scorching is mostly seen during October – January. During this period even the stems of young palms have to be protected. For this a quick growing shade plant can be planted on Southern and Western sides of the garden.

Cultural Operations:

Keep the garden free of weeds and break up surface crust by light forking or digging after cessation of monsoon during October-November. In slopes, prevent soil erosion by terracing. Sow seeds of green manure-cum-cover crops such as Mimosa invisa, Stylosanthes gracilis and Calapagonium muconoides in April-May with the onset of pre-monsoon rains. Cut and apply them to the palms in September-October.

Nutrient management

Apply green leaf and compost, each at the rate of 12 kg per palm per year from first year of planting onwards, during September-October.

Apply N:P₂O₅:K₂O for adult palms @ 100: 40:140 g / palm / year.

Apply 1/3 dose during first year, 2/3 dose during second year and full dose from third year onwards. Under irrigated conditions, apply fertilizers in two split doses, the first during September-October and the second during February. Under rainfed conditions, apply the second dose during March-April after the receipt of summer rains. Apply manures and fertilizers during September-October in circular basins of 15-20 cm depth and with a radius of 0.75-1.0 m from the palm. Apply the second dose of fertilizers around the base of palm after weeding and mix into soil by light forking. In acidic soils, broadcast lime at the rate of 0.5 kg per palm once in two or three years and incorporate into soil by forking during March-April.

Fertigation:

Application of nutrients through irrigation water is called as fertigation. This procedure can be profitably followed in arecanut. The studies at CPCRI have shown that in the initial stages of areca garden only 75% of the recommended dose of fertilizer is sufficient when the fertilizer was given through drip irrigation. The fertilizer should be split into ten parts and should be applied once in 20 days from November to May.

Organic matter recycling:

On an average, 5.5 to 6.0 tonnes of wastes are available from one ha of areca garden per year. This can be effectively used as organic source of nutrients for areca palms. But direct application of these wastes in the garden will take long time for decomposition and will not meet the nutrient demand of the crop immediately. Hence, these materials can be composted using earthworms effectively and used as organic manure in areca gardens. To prepare vermicompost, areca wastes are chopped into small pieces of 10 cm and heaped. The heap should be mixed with cow dung slurry @ 10 kg / 100 kg of waste and kept for two weeks with sprinkling water daily. Then the chopped material is arranged in beds of one-meter width and convenient length. Cement tanks or trenches can be used for this purpose. A layer of 10-15 cm waste material is alternated with 2 cm layer of cow dung over which earthworms are released at the rate of 1000 numbers per square meter. The wastes are converted into fine granular, odourless vermicompost within 60 days. During this period, the earthworm population is doubled. About 8 kg /palm/year of vermicompost meets the crop nutrient demand in terms of nitrogen. The two species of earthworms Eudrilus eugeniae and Eisenia foetida can be used.

Irrigation and Drainage

Arecanut cannot withstand drought for a long time. Being a perennial crop, once affected by water stress, it may require two-three years to regain the normal vigour and yield. The death of palms due to moisture stress is also not uncommon.

In West Coast of India, where more than 50 per cent of arecanut is cultivated, rainfall is mostly confined to June-November months. Monsoon is followed by a prolonged dry spell normally extending from November to May. Excess evaporation, faster rate of wind speed, greater vapour pressure gradient in the above ground atmosphere and rise in temperature are the regular features of summer in these regions and as a result, the crop is invariably subjected to drought conditions. If the monsoon is delayed, the drought situation further aggravates. Therefore optimizing the irrigation requirements and also economizing the irrigation water assumes major importance in arecanut cultivation. Irrigate the palms during hot and dry periods at regular intervals of 3-5 days depending upon the soil type.

The palms should be irrigated once in four to seven days depending on the soil type and climatic factors. In West Coast, where major areas of arecanut gardens are irrigated, watering the garden once in seven or eight days during November-December, once in six days during January-February and once in three to five days during March-April-May is recommended. In each irrigation, give about 175 litres of water per palm. Where there is shortage of water, follow drip irrigation. Application of organic mulch to the garden helps conservation of soil moisture.

Construct drainage channels (25-30 cm deep from the bottom of pits) between the rows and drain out water during periods of heavy rainfall to prevent waterlogging.

Arecanut based cropping system

Arecanut is cultivated with spacing of 2.7 X 2.7 m provides ample scope for cultivation of various annual, biennial and perennial crops in the inter spaces. The crop chosen should not have any problem of soil exhaustion and pest build-up. At the same time, it should have maximum production potential and give maximum returns per unit input to the farmers. Crops, which love shade or those which can withstand the canopy of arecanut palms and heavy dripping during the monsoon are to be preferred.

Crops like banana, pepper, cocoa, elephant foot yam, citrus, betelvine, pineapple etc. were found suitable for inter/mixed cropping in arecanut. However, it is found that as the age of the garden advances, only few crops can be grown profitably as mixed crop viz., pepper, cocoa, banana, lime and betelvine. The intercrops, apart from giving additional income, create additional employment opportunities.

Crop husbandry for mixed crops in arecanut garden

* Planted at the base of the palms; † Planted at the centre of four palms.

# RP – Rock phosphate; $ MOP – Muriate of potash