Bwa-yo - Société Audubon Haiti

Figure 10.7 A healthy snack of coconut milk
and the immature meat is a favorite in Haiti.
Kokove 83
part of the triangular hull. The root
penetrates the hull and enters the soil
after a month. Leaves appear at about
2 months and seedlings are ready to
transplant at 6-8 months.
Controlled pollination methods
have been developed in Jamaica to
develop hybrids that are more resistant
to lethal yellowing. One of the
most successful hybrids is the
Maypan, a cross between Malayan
Dwarf as the seed parent and Panama
Tall as the pollen parent. Several
techniques are utilized, the most common
of which entails a monthly
emasculation (removal of the male
flowers), followed by isolation of the
female flowers and fertilizing them
with pollen from selected Panama
TaJl specimens. The Red Malayan
Dwarf is selected, since hybridization
is easily identified by the color of the
seedlings (Harries, 1976).
Lethal Yellowing Disease: Among the pests and diseases that attack coconut, none is
more deadly than lethal yellowing (LY). It is caused by a mycoplasma-like organism
(MLO) transmitted by a plant hopper (Myndus sp.). Death occurs 3-6 months from the
time that the first symptoms are evident. The order of symptoms are as follows: I) premature
nut fall, 2) necrosis of the inflorescence, 3) flag leaf, 4) yellowing of the lower
fronds upward, and 5) spear leaf yellows and decays. There is no evidence that the
MLOs can be transmitted by seed (Illingworth, 1992).
LY first was observed in the Caribbean as early as 1832 in the Cayman Islands and
in Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti in the late 1800s (Howard and Bat-rant, 1989). Reports of its
first occurring in northern Haiti seem to indicate this was the region where LY began in
Haiti. Morin (1977) reported that LY had been in this area since the mid-1950s, though
it may have been in the country much earlier. lllingworth (1992) notes that the disease
occurred in Haiti fifty years before having been observed in the Dominican Republic in
1969. The first area of infection extended from Cap-Haitien to Ouanaminthe and
Table 10.1 Proximate analysis (% dry weight) of C. nucifera, after Gohl (1975).
COMPONENT CRUDE CRUDE CRUDE CARBO- ASH Ca P
PROTEIN j