Centre Details

Aliyanagar : Coconut Research Station, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Research Institute (TNAU), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Year of establishment: 1990

General information

AICRP palms Aliyarnagar centre had its genesis in 1963 as Agricultural Research Station to cater to the needs of the farming community of Parambikulam Aliyar Command Area. The initial mandate crops were groundnut and coconut. During 2002, the centre was renamed as Coconut Research Station owing to the growing importance of research activities in coconut and its area expansion under coconut cultivation in the western zone of Tamil Nadu.

The AICRP palms Aliyanagar centre is located 100 29'N latitude and 760 58'E longitude at an elevation of 288 m above MSL with an undulating topography. The research station is having a total area of 21.7ha, out of which 18.7 ha is cultivable with tall coconut varieties in 12.53 ha and dwarf in 2.72 ha. Centres received the mean annual rainfall of 858mm, (47.1% during North-East Monsoon and 34% South West Monsoon). The maximum and minimum temperature during summer is 35° C and 22.1° C. The maximum and minimum winter temperature is 31.9° C and 16.8° C. The soil are sandy loam and non-calcareous with neutral pH, low nitrogen, medium P2O5 and high K2O.

Tamil Nadu is 3rd largest coconut growing area in India. The production shows a steady increase during the last three years (5,771 million nuts) with a productivity of 13,717 nuts/ha. The growth rate for coconut production during the last decade is 5.77. These could be the result of scientific intervention, progressive implementation and adoption of technologies in the recent years for productivity improvements.