Agro Processing Centre

 To impart training to entrepreneurs on the production of Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut Chips, Copra Dryers, Snow Ball Tender Coconut, Tender Nut Punch and Cutter etc.

• The physiological and biochemical basis of seedling vigour in coconut and its relationship to productivity was worked out.
• Screening techniques for drought tolerance at seedling, adult palm and invitro condition using the osmoticum is perfected.
• Based on physiological and biochemical basis of drought tolerance, strategies are devised to manage the drought under field condition.

• An infocrop –coconut model is developed to simulate the growth and production of coconut under present and future climates.
• Open top chamber (OTC) facility is created to study the  growth of coconut, arecanut and cocoa seedlings under elevated CO2 and temperature.

Open top chamber(OTC) facility at CPCRI,Kasargod to study the effect of elivated CO2 and temperature on plantation crops.

 

• Coconut cultivars/ hybrids were characterized based on fatty acid profiles for edible and industrial purposes.

• Shelf life of coconut oil can be enhanced by storing it in brown bottles, plastic cans or clay jars with preservatives.

• Coconut hybrids such as Keraganga, Chandralaksha, Kerasankara and talls like Chandrakalpa and West Coast Tall were identified as relatively drought tolerant compared to the other varieties and hybrids.

• Chandrasankara is found to be more susceptible to drought under sandy and sandy loam soil than laterite soil under rainfed condition.

• Drought management practices such as husk burial and composted coir pith application were found to increase the nut yield under rainfed conditions.

• In order to understand the adaptation of coconut to high temperature the quantification of stress responsive proteins and the anti-oxidant enzymes is perfected.

Burial of composted coir pith in palm basins

Burial of coconut husk in palm basins
 

• The saponification value, peroxide value, iodine value, free fatty acid, acid value, quantification is perfected.

• Fatty acid profile of coconut oil from different varieties across different agro-climatic zones is being done.

• Canopy architect and pruning are important for higher productivity of cocoa.Highest Yields were obtained at cocoa spacing of 2.7x5.4 m and large canopy(20m2) in areca gardens.

• Carbon sequestration by terrestrial biomass is one of the mitigation options used for education of GHGs.Areca-cocoa system had a standing biomass of 23.5,54.9 and 87.10 t ha-1 in 5th,8th and 15th years of growth,respectively.Annual increments in biomass or net primary productivity ranged from 1.38-2.66t ha-1 in cocoa and 3.34-7.11 t ha-1 in areca.The biomass and primary productivity is considerable with areca-cocoa mixed crop and comparable to any agroforestry  systems involving cocoa.

• Five accessions[(NC23(p3xp); NC29(P6xP4); NC 31(P12xP2); NC39(T7/12); NC42(T86/2)] and two hybrids[II-67xNC 42/94,II-67xNC 29/66] have been identified as drought tolerant.

• Stomatal resistance was significantly higher in outer and middleleaves of diseased palms while transpiration and Pn were lower.The altered value of chlorophyll flurescence indices in YLD palms reflected abnormal arrangement of antennae pigments of PS II(Fo),inhibition of QA reduction(Fm) and reduction of photosynthetic quantum yield(Fv/Fm).These results indicated that the carboxylation efficiency was affected.Leaf water potential and turgor potential were significantly higher while osmotic potential was lower in diseased leaves showing that disease leads to stomatal closure independent of water deficit.

Pre and Post Harvest Technology

The following pre and post harvest technologies are developed to enhance the coconut value addition, labour saving and drudgery reducing farm machineries.

Coconut chips

Application: Coconut chips with different flavour sweet, salted and etc. can be prepared.
Unit cost : Rs.1.5 lakh
Output capacity: 300 coconuts / day

Coconut Slicing Machine for making chips

Capacity:7.5 kg/hour, cost:Rs.50,000/-

Snow Ball Tender Nut Machine

Application: To produce snowball tendernut from tender coconut
Unit cost : Rs.20,000/-
Output capacity: Ten snowball tendernuts per hour

Shell Fired Copra Dryer

Application/Use: For drying coconut to make copra for oil extraction
Unit cost: Rs.33000/-
Output Capacity:1000 nuts per batch

Solar cum Electrical Dryer

Capacity 2000nuts/batch
Time : 24 hrs
Fuel : Solar and electrical energy
Cost : Rs.45000/-
Cost of drying : Rs.2.75/kg copra
Automatic temp. control
For medium scale industries

Copra moisture meter

Application/Use: To measure moisture content of copra
Unit cost:Rs.2000/

Coconut de-shelling machine

Application/Use: For separating shell and copra after partial drying
Unit cost: Rs.50,000/-
Output Capacity: 5000 nuts / hr

Tender nut punch and cutter

Application/Use: For drinking tender nut water
Unit cost: Rs.3500/-
Output Capacity: 150 – 200 nuts/hr

Telescopic sprayer for Palms

Application: For spraying palms from the ground up to 40ft height
Unit cost: Rs.12500/-
Output Capacity: Arecanut-100 palms/hr, Coconut-15-20 palms/hr

Coconut Climbing Device

Application: Climbing coconut tree
Unit cost: Rs.10,000/- including safety mechanism
Output capacity: 25minutes to climb up and down a coconut tree of 30m height

Virgin Coconut Oil by Fermentation and Hot Process Method

Application: To produce Virgin Coconut Oil from coconut milk – a value added product from coconut                                               
Unit cost : Rs.5,50,000/-                            
Output capacity: 500 nuts/day

Coconut Testa Remover

Application: For the removal of coconut testa for production of coconut chips and virgin coconut oil.                                           
Unit cost:Rs.60,000/-                                 
Output capacity:45nuts/hr

Coconut Milk Extractor

Application: To extract milk from coconut for production of VCO by fermentation and hot process                                                        
Unit Cost: Rs.50,000/-                                    
Output capacity: 100 nuts/hr

VCO Cooker

Application: For production of virgin coconut oil by hot process
Output capacity: 125litre/batch/6hrs