MAWA vs. MATAG - Review of a 21-year study on yield performance

MAWA vs. MATAG - Review of a 21-year study on yield performance

Wow... I've really been away from this blogging thing for a long time. But I do have a good reason though: I've been busy finishing up my research work, and finalizing certain papers that are slated for publication. 

Anyway, this time around I thought I would like to talk about the yield performances of the MAWA and MATAG hybrid coconuts. As I've mentioned before, I was once worked in one the best plantations in the country. I was privileged too, since the plantation dealt with a great variety of commodity and cash crops, which included the coconut. To freshen your memory, the MAWA and MATAG hybrids are among the most productive coconut hybrids available currently.

Here are some facts and figures about Malaysia's coconut industry (source: Asian and Pacific Coconut Community)

Currency Unit	Ringgit Malaysia (RM)
Exchange rate to  US$ (Average)	3.56
Area Under Coconut (Ha)	115,000
Total Coconut Production
In nuts equivalent	390,000,000
In copra equivalent	78,000 MT
Estimated Domestic Consumption
In nuts equivalent	418,000,000
In copra equivalent	96,000 MT
Export Volume
Fresh Coconuts	: 23,559,000 nuts
Copra	: 1,503 MT
Coconut Oil	: 297,007 MT
Copra Meal	: 3,960 MT
Desiccated Coconut	: 6,601 MT
Coconut Milk Powder	: 5,006 MT
Activated Carbon	: 15,076 MT
Fibre & Fibre Products	: 1,738 MT
Total Coconut Export Value	: RM700,000,000

 

The bulk of Malaysia's coconut growing areas are still cultivated with the traditional Malayan Tall variety, which produces huge nuts with a high kernel content, as seen in the picture here. However, the yield of the Malayan Tall is often times low; even on well managed plantations, yields are normally about 10,000 nuts per hectare per year, whereas the typical yield is closer to 3,000 nuts only! However, the kernel quality is excellent, and oil yield is good. 

In view of the low productivity of traditional coconut production, many coconut farms were converted to other more lucrative crops, such as the oil palm. Thus, in order to save the local coconut industry from total collapse, the MAWA and MATAG hybrids were introduced.

The Hybrids

The MAWA and MATAG cononuts are the result of hybridization between the local dwarf coconut and a selected tall variety. The dwarf parent acts as the mother palm, whereas the tall parent serves as pollen donor. The choice of parental coconut varieties depend on the inherent characteristics possessed by both; the dwarf parent has earlier maturity, fruit bearing and shorter height increment, while the tall parent produces a high number of female flower "buttons", has larger coconuts, and has superior kernel quality.
 

 

The "mother" palms are typically either the Malayan Red Dwarf, or the Malayan Yellow Dwarf

 The pollen donors are typically from the tall varieties, eg. the Tagnanan Tall or the West African Tall

 

                        MATAG                                                                           MAWA

Hybrid progeny show a high production of nuts, shorter stature (compared to Tall parent), and larger nut sizes (compared to Dwarf parent).

 
21-year Yield Comparison for MAWA and MATAG Hybrids

The following is a table that shows the year-by-year yield data for the MAWA and MATAG hybrids. Areas of comparison are on per palm basis, and include nut yield, bunch production, and copra yield. Plots evaluated for each hybrid were planted with 131 palms per hectare (53 per acre), so to find out the yield per hectare, just multiply the figures in the table by 131 (or 53 if using acre).

	Nuts/Palm		Bunches/Palm		Copra (kg)/Palm
Year	MATAG	MAWA	MATAG	MAWA	MATAG	MAWA
1987	81.0	90.0	12.7	14.1	21.1	19.2
1988	108.0	137.0	15.0	16.4	28.2	29.2
1989	155.0	159.0	17.3	18.7	40.5	33.9
1990	167.0	152.0	16.9	16.1	43.6	32.4
1991	123.0	140.0	14.6	14.7	32.1	29.8
1992	175.0	182.0	18.0	17.6	45.7	38.8
1993	186.0	180.0	17.8	17.7	48.5	38.3
1994	192.0	192.0	17.6	17.3	50.1	40.9
1995	190.0	184.0	17.1	16.0	49.6	39.2
1996	163.0	155.0	17.1	15.7	42.5	33.0
1997	200.0	189.0	18.3	17.2	52.2	40.3
1998	235.0	218.0	18.7	17.5	61.3	46.4
1999	223.0	238.0	17.7	17.5	58.2	50.7
2000	256.0	283.0	17.8	17.8	66.8	60.3
2001	245.0	292.0	18.0	18.0	63.9	62.2
2002	212.0	242.0	17.2	18.2	55.3	51.5
2003	219.0	244.0	17.5	17.4	57.2	52.0
2004	152.0	174.0	17.5	17.7	39.7	37.1
2005	175.0	173.0	17.9	18.0	45.7	36.8
2006	194.0	193.0	18.2	18.1	50.6	41.1
2007	182.0	187.0	18.3	18.5	47.5	39.8
MEAN	182.5	190.7	17.2	17.2	47.6	40.6

As can be seen from the table above, each hybrid has its own merit in terms of production and yield. While the MAWA produces 4.5% more nuts per palm compared to MATAG, its smaller nut size results in it producing 17.2% less copra. The following photo shows a comparison of the copra and nut size of the the Malayan Tall, MATAG and MAWA coconuts respectively.

What is also noticeable is how the performance of the coconut hybrids fluctuate on a yearly basis. The graphs below visualizes this fluctuation for the three parameters highlighted above:








 

To summarize the graphs, the hybrid coconut yield performance picks up and gradually reaches a peak about 15 years after first bearing. Overall, both hybrids match each other in terms of production, with the MAWA marginally outperforming the MATAG in nut production. However, in terms of copra yield, the MATAG soundly beats the MAWA, especially in the first 15 years of production. Bunch production is very much static, except for a few years where severe drought had been experienced in the trial plots. 

Throughout the evaluation period, yield performance tended to fluctuate. However, this type of fluctuation is actually quite typical of coconuts; after a year with high productivity, the next year will typically experience a drop in yield. In addition, environmental stressors such as the annual drought season and El-Nino/La Nina cycles will have a dramatic impact upon yield outcome.