Survey of pencil point disorder manifested coconut gardens of Pollachi taluk, Coimbatore Dt, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Coconut eulogized as ‘Kalpa Vrisksha’ is a crop of small and marginal farmers across the nation. The versatile crop is a sensitive victim to an array of biotic and abiotic stresses of which Pencil point disorder is emerging as a silent menace in the recent past. The disorder is generally attributed to micronutrient deficiency in the soils in which palm is cultivated. A survey was conducted in 48 Pencil point disorder manifested farmers’ holdings of Pollachi taluk of Coimbatore district during 2017 employing a prelaid questionnaire for comprehending and correlating the incidence of the disorder to, crop management practices adopted by the farmers, soil fertility constraints, incidence of pests and diseases and drought events. It was observed that disease like root (wilt) and incidence of pests viz., rhinoceros beetle, red palm weevil and eriophid mite are not the reasons behind the occurrence of pencil point disorder. Senile palms ageing more than 60, depletion of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) pool, paucity of organic manures, top soil erosion, moisture stress, high density cropping with perennial crops like cocoa, nutmeg and pepper leading to nutrient mining, imbalanced fertilization, lack of application of micronutrient fertilizers, soil borne micronutrients deficiencies especially zinc and copper are identified as the causes for pencil point disorder in coconut.