Peach palm - World Agroforestry Centre

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4 6 Peach palm. Bactris gasipaes Kunth (60°C, 70% relative humidity) storage can be extended to 8 days (Piedrahita 1993). Fruits should not be refrigerated if the seeds are destined for sowing, because embryo viability decreases rapidly at lower storage temperatures (J.M. Pérez, unpublished data). Shelf-life of fresh fruit can be extended by collecting well-developed fruits that are just starting to change from green to their final colour (M.L. Pineda, 1996, pers. comm.). Frozen, dried or canned fruit can be conserved for months, but with the consequent loss of final flavour and colour (M.L. Pineda, 1996, pers. comm.). Fresh fruits are commonly sold by the bunch, or they are processed and packaged. The processing is minimal: remove fruits from the bunch, wash and wax, sort and classify, and package in net bags of specified weight. Cooked fruit is also handled like fresh fruit. If fruits are destined for flour, they should be processed on the day of harvest or the following day: cook the entire bunch to facilitate removal of the fruit, denature potential toxins, and improve starch quality; cut the whole fruits into small pieces; remove the seed, and dry the pulp and peel (red peels give a golden colour to the flour); then grind and package. Processing fruits of low phytosanitary quality is more difficult and expensive, requiring careful sorting and peeling. 9.4 Heart-of-palm: planting density and pruning Peach palm is planted at high density for heart-of-palm production (4 000-20 000 plants/ha) (Fig. 6), so plant spacing, geometric arrangement and number of stems/ plant become very important considerations. At the higher plant densities, Fig. 6. High-density plantation in Costa Rica.
Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. 20. 47 production may decline in time, primarily owing to shading, which limits new offshoot development, and competition for water and nutrients. At lower plant densities, production is suboptimal during the early years because above- and belowground resources are not fully utilized. One might consider planting at higher density for maximum production during the first years, and then thinning plants and/or reducing the number of stems per plant progressively in the following years. The production potential and economic costs/benefits of this progressive thinning approach have not been fully quantified. Under some conditions farmers may not adopt a progressive thinning approach. Most farmers interviewed in the Peruvian Amazon Basin prefer to sow perennial plants at final density; they are reluctant to sow them at high densities and then thin to a lower density (Brodie et al. 1997). This is well accepted in Costa Rica, however, where this thinning approach is becoming a common practice (J. Mora-Urpí, pers. observ.). Agricultural extension programmes may change farmers’ attitudes in some regions. Some research on plant densities and spatial arrangements for heart-of-palm production has been conducted. When interpreting results of these experiments, three factors should be kept in mind: production during the first years may not be a reliable indicator of later production; nutrient inputs are necessary to maintain high production over time (see Section 9.5); landraces, and perhaps plants within landraces, may respond differently to management treatments and environmental conditions (e.g. plant density, number of stems per plant, local soil, climate and fertilization). Sowing at higher plant densities can produce higher heart-of-palm yields during the first years, but production may fall in subsequent years if plants are not properly managed. For example, Chalá (1993) and Játiva (pers. comm.) evaluated yield at eight plant densities for 5 years in northeastern Ecuador, using local peach palm seed. Chalá (1993) observed the highest second-year yield at the highest density tested, 16 666 plants/ha (Fig. 7, H). The fifth-year yield (M. Játiva, unpublished data) was greater than the second-year yield in plots with 8888 or fewer plants/ha (greatest increase at the lowest density) but was lower in plots with 10 000 or more plants/ha (sharpest decline at highest density). Plants in the highestdensity plots produced thin hearts-of-palm, indicating the need for thinning. Densities of 8888 or more plants/ha were established by sowing 2 or 4 plants/site. If each of these 2 or 4 plants/site produced a single stem per year, the total number of stems would be equal to a plantation sown with half as many plants but managed for 2 or 4 stems per plant per year. In this study, the highest yield in the fifth year was at 1.5 x 1.5 m spacing with 2 plants/site, but this was only slightly greater at that age than the yield at 1.5 x 1.5 m spacing with 1 plant/ site. The number of stems per plant and fertilization schedule were not reported. The cumulative increase in yield (approx. 1.75 t in 5 years) may cover the additional cost of producing, planting, managing and harvesting the 4444 extra plants/ha used. In Costa Rica, with the Utilis landrace and fertile soils, the most common density has changed from 5000 plants/ha (2 x 1 m spacing; 1 plant/site) to 10 000 plants/ha (2.0 x 0.5 m spacing; 1 plant/site), although multiple plants per site are sometimes used. Lower plant densities are recommended for soils of lower fertility (Mora-Urpí 1984). There are two different approaches to managing offshoots for heart-of-palm: not
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Peach palm - World Agroforestry Centre

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