Everything you need to learn about arecanut cultivation, harvesting and growth.
Introduction to Arecanut:
Arecanut, which is also known as betelnut, is extensively cultivated in the tropics. Its nuts are a popular masticatory in several areas in India, the Middle East and the Far East. The plant is a native of Malaysia. India has an area of about 18, 34,000 hectares under the plant and produces, roughly 1, 50,000 tonnes of arecanut annually.
Of the states, Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are important in respect of arecanut cultivation. India imports a considerable amount of arecanut chiefly from Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka to meet the deficit in the country.
Arecanut (Areca catechu L.) belongs to the family Palmae. The plant is a slender stemmed palm attaining a height up to 30 m. Inflorescence is a spadix, the initiation of which takes place in every axil, but there is absorption of inflorescences up to 5 percent or so. The plant is monoecious and the spadix of a grown-up palm produces, on an average, 294 female flowers. The ripe fruit is yellow or red.
Climate and Soil Required for Arecanut Cultivation:
Arecanut is mostly cultivated in the area between 28° North and South of the Equator. Though it is known to grow at elevations up to 1,000 m above the sea level, the productivity of the plant is affected adversely at higher elevations. It cannot withstand extremes of temperature and does well in a temperature range of 15° to 38°C.
The plant thrives in various types of soils, namely, the laterite, the red loamy, the alluvial and the loam. The soil should be deep and well-drained and the water-table should not be high.
Cultivation of Arecanut:
Superior planting material is selected from promising mother-palms, which possess characters correlated with high yield. Of the various plant characters, the age at first bearing and the percentage of nuts set were found to be very important. Only fully ripe and properly formed nuts are selected for purposes of planting.
Suitable seed-nuts are sown immediately after harvest, in beds of sand, under partial shade, at a distance of 5 to 6 cm from one another. In the seed-beds stalk-ends of the nuts should point upwards. After sowing, sand is spread to cover the nuts and the bed is irrigated daily. Germination starts in about 40 days and the sprouts are transplanted in a nursery, in the beginning of the monsoon, when they attain the age of three months.
For this purpose, nursery-beds of 150 cm width and of convenient length are made. Planting is done at a spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm. A basal dose of cattle manure may be applied to the nursery at the rate of 5 tonnes per hectare. The seedlings are provided with shade either by erecting an artificial pandal or by growing crops, like Coccinia indica. Transplanting is done when the seedlings are 12 to 18 months old. Only those seedlings, which have the maximum number of leaves and the minimum height, should be selected for the purpose.
Preparation of the land for transplanting is done by repeated ploughing or by digging. If necessary, the land is terraced. In case the plants are to be grown under irrigation, necessary channels are made. Proper attention should also be paid to drainage of the soil. The seedling is planted in the centre of the pit, which measures 90 cm × 90 cm × 90 cm, the pit to pit distance being 2.7 m.
After planting, the seedling is covered with soil up to the collar and the soil is pressed properly. Whereas planting in properly drained soils is done in May-June, in clayey soil, in which water-logging takes place, planting can be done as late as in August- September. A shade crop is planted to protect the seedlings from the sun and the banana is regarded quite suitable for the purpose since it gives a good return.
Application of 100 g of N, 40 g of P2O5 and 140 g of K2O in the form of fertilizers and 12 kg each of green manure and compost or cattle manure to a bearing palm, every year, is considered beneficial. While the fertilizers may be applied in two split doses, one during September-October and another during February, green manure and compost may be applied in a single dose in September-October.
Since the soils of arecanut-growing areas are mostly acidic in nature, 500 g of lime may be applied to each palm, once in two or three years. Lime application should be done at least three weeks before manuring in September-October.
Arecanut palms are irrigated at intervals of 3 to 5 days, depending on the type of the soil. As the tree cannot withstand water-logging, proper drainage must be provided. Light forking or digging, which is the main cultural operation, is undertaken generally in October- November, for breaking the soil crust and also for controlling weeds.
Intercropping with banana, guinea-grass and other suitable crops or mixed cropping with cacao, pepper and betel vine can be done without adverse effects on arecanut.
Harvesting and Yield:
The pre-bearing age of the tree varies from 5 to 8 years. While immature fruits are harvested in some places, both immature and mature ones are harvested in others. Harvesting of tender nuts is done from July to December and that of ripe nuts from December to March or from May to July. During the whole season, three pickings or, sometimes, four pickings are done.
Each tree yields 2-3 bunches a year, having 200-250 fruits. The weight of 100 fruits varies from 1.45 – 2.20 kg. The yield per hectare with 400 bearing trees is 1, 60,000 – 3, 00,000 fruits.
Processing:
The whole ripe fruits are dried in the sun properly for 40 to 45 days for making chali supari. The drying reduces the moisture content of the fruits to about 10%. A drier has recently been designed, which is quite suitable for producing good quality chali supari.
The cup-shaped nuts ‘Batladike’ or ‘Kalipak’ are prepared by boiling husked tender nuts after they have been cut into halves. The decoction commonly known as ‘Chogaru’, which is obtained by boiling tender nuts under pressure, is added to the nuts repeatedly. The nuts are then spread over mats and dried in the sun for a week or so.
Uses of Arecanut:
Arecanut is mainly used as a masticatory. Chewing of arecanut is a very common habit with the people of many areas. The husk of arecanut, which is an important by-product, can be used for making paper, boards, etc. Chogaru, a tannin-rich by-product, obtained from processing of tender nuts, can be used for preparing leather from hides. It is also used for preparing ink and treating fishing-nets. The trunk of the palm is regarded valuable as a building material.
Varieties of Arecanut:
Certain exotic types, namely, VTL-3, 11, 12, 13 and 17, and an indigenous one, ‘Mohitnagar’, have been found to be quite good in respect of economic characters. Of these, the first named one has been released for general cultivation under the name “Mangala”.
Diseases of Arecanut:
The common diseases of arecanut are:
(i) Fruit rot, nut fall and bud rot caused by Phytophthora palmivora, which can be controlled by spraying with 1% Bordeaux mixture before the monsoon.
(ii) Stem bleeding, stem crack and sun scotch caused by Ceratostomella paradoxa, which can be controlled by covering leaf sheaths on the south-west side of the young palm and by cutting out discoloured tissues and painting cut surfaces with hot coal-tar or Bordeaux paint.
(iii) Root rot caused by Ganoderma lucidum, which can be controlled by felling the diseased palms, digging them out and burning them and incorporating 1 to 1.3 kg of sulphur into the soil.
(iv) Leaf blight caused by Coniothyrium arecae, which can be controlled by spraying leaves with Bordeaux mixture.
Insect Pests of Arecanut:
The common insect pests are:
(i) Scale insects and mealy bugs (Aonidiella orientalis, Chinaspis dilotata, Pinnaspis aspidistrae, Dysmicoccus brevipes, Icerya aegyptiaca), which can be controlled by spraying 0.04% Diazinon, Dichlorvos, Phosphamidon or Monocrotophos.
(ii) Aphid (Cerataphis tetaniae), which can be controlled by the same method as stated in No. (i) above.
(iii) Arecanut beetle (Araecerus fasciculatus), which can be controlled by spraying with 0.2% BHC (W.P.) or 0.04% Endosulfan.
(iv) Mites (Raoiella indica, Typhlod- ronus ovalis, Oligonychus biharensis), which can be controlled by dusting sulphur or spraying 0.05% wettable sulphur.