Kalpa Suvarna dwarf coconut variety is a selection, suitable for dual purposes for copra and tendernut production, gives an average yield of 97 nuts/ palm/ year and 17,169 nuts per hectare per year. The palms are regular bearers and commence flowering after thirty to thirty-six months of planting in the field. Quantity of tender nut water is around 431 ml and very good in taste with TSS of 5.8 °Brix. The variety is recommended for the states of Karnataka and Kerala.

The VTLCH 1 cocoa, is a hybrid early bearing, high yielding with an average of 50 pods/tree/year. Pods are of 350-400 g and recorded average yield was 1.5 kg dry beans/tree/year. The variety is recommended for the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

The variety VTLCH-2 is a hybrid, early bearing, high yielding with average of 50 pods/tree/year. Pods are of 350-400 g weight with an average yield of 1.5 kg dry beans/tree/year. This variety is tolerant to black pod rot, tea mosquito bug, low moisture stress and adapted to different agro climatic conditions of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Notification of new varieties of coconut and cocoa

A coconut variety ‘Kalpa Vajra’ and two cocoa varieties ‘VTLCS-1’ and ‘VTLCS-2’ have been released by the Central Sub-committee on Crops Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agriculture Crops.

Kalpa Vajra

A tall variety, WCT X WCT progenies, based on performance evaluation trials at CDB Farm, Neriamangalam and ICAR-CPCRI, RS, Kayamkulam, were high yielding and root (wilt) disease-free West Coast Tall (WCT) palms, superior in terms of higher yield and recorded less root (wilt) disease incidence and recommended for release as ‘Kalpa Vajra’, suitable for cultivation in root (wilt) disease prevalent tract.

VTLCS-1and VTLCS-2

Cocoa selections, VTLCS-1 and VTLCS-2, based on their vigour, early, stable, high yielding potential (2.52 and 2.70 kg/ tree/ year, respectively), were recommended for release to cocoa growing regions of the country.