Vol. 19 No. 1
Structural analysis of coconut palm prior to the design of a coconut palm climber and derivation of allometric relationships- A study at KAU campus
Author(s): A. MANGAT, P. K. SURESHKUMAR AND P. NIYAS
Abstract: Coconut is one of the important cash crop distributed across tropics. The risky factor with coconut cultivation is the timely harvesting of nuts. Climbing up the palm and harvesting is a long concern for the coconut farmers throughout the world. So it is high time to develop a climbing device which requires less human effort. To design a climbing device for coconut, it is mandatory to know the physical parameters of the palm. Although coconut is a staple crop in every homegardens of Kerala, relatively little is known about its physical properties.The physical parameters like palm height, girth or diameter at different levels, inclination with respect to ground will help to design a coconut palm climbing device. The average DBH of coconut in KAU campus is 26 cm and average height of the coconut palm is 13 m. In addition to this, an allometric relation is developed between coconut palm diameter and crown width and also coconut palm diameter and height. In both cases, majority of the data points comes under 50 % quantiles.The physical properties and their allometric relation are necessary for the design of appropriate climbing device for coconut palm.
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