Coconut varieties conserved in the National Genebank of Vietnam

Here is discussed the number and nature of coconut accessions presently conserved in the National Coconut Gene bank of Vietnam, located in Dong Go Experimental Research centre in Ben Tré province. Pictures of some of the varieties conserved in the Genebank can be seen here.

As of January 2016, only 31 coconut accessions are presently registered in the CGRD (International Coconut Genetic Resources Database) for the National Gene Bank of Vietnam in Dong Go. IOOP provided a new list showing that the data presently available in CGRD is incomplete and that the collecting work was continued. Now the collection gathers 51 accessions (so 64% more) as shown in Table 1.
Such a similar situation may be found in many other countries; So the global number of coconut accessions collected by COGENT member countries is probably strongly underestimated. This number is very probably at least 25% more that what is presently registered in the CGRD database.

Notes: 
  • What is called in this list 'Guinea Green Dwarf', originally 'Equatorial Guinea Green Dwarf' was renamed by Côte d'Ivoire (collecting country) as 'Brazilian Green Dwarf population Equatorial Guinea', because there is historical évidence that this variety was introduced recently  from Brazil.
  • What is called 'Ghana Yellow Dwarf' is this list was renamed as 'Malayan Yellow Dwarf population Ghana by Côte d'Ivoire (collecting country).
  • 'King Coconut' status would need to be reviewed. This Sri Lanka variety was classified as 'Semi-Tall'.
  • Table 2 (at the end of this post) gives the list of the 31 accessions presently registered in the CGRD database as of January 2016.


Table 1
List of the 51 coconut accessions
presently conserved by the National Coconut Gene Bank
of Vietnam at the Dong Go Research Centre
as 
of 28th, January 2016.


No.
Coconut accessions
Abbreviation
Group
Total palms
Planted year
1
Ghana Yellow Dwarf
GYD
Dwarf
30
1987
2
Guinea Green Dwarf
EGD
Dwarf
38
1987
3
Catigan Green Dwarf
CATD
Dwarf
35
1987
4
Malayan Yellow Dwarf
MYD
Dwarf
38
1987
5
Malayan Red Dwarf
MRD
Dwarf
67
1987
6
Malayan Green Dwarf
MGD
Dwarf
36
1987
7
Sri Lanka Yellow Dwarf
CYD
Dwarf
36
1987
8
Sri Lanka Red Dwarf
SLRD
Dwarf
5
1987
9
King Coconut Sri Lanka Red Dwarf
KSRD
Dwarf
4
2013
10
Western Africa Tall
WAT
Tall
33
1987
11
Bago Oshiro Tall
BAOT
Tall
27
1987
12
San Ramon Tall
SNRT
Tall
45
1987
B. Local varieties
13
Dau Tall - Giong Trom
DAUT01
Tall
31
1987
14
Ta Tall - Giong Trom
TAAT01
Tall
34
1987
15
Sap Tall - Cau Ke
MACT
Tall
29
1987
16
Green sweet husk Tall - Giong Trom
NGGT
Tall
5
1975
17
Yellow sweet husk Tall - Giong Trom
NGYT
Tall
3
1975
18
Lua Tall - HCMC
LUAT
Tall
31
1987
19
Brown Eo Dwarf - HCMC
EOBD
Dwarf
40
1987
20
Green Xiêm Dwarf - Giong Trom
EOBD
Dwarf
20
1987
21
Yellow Tam Quan Dwarf - My Tho
TYD
Dwarf
34
1987
22
Red Xiem Dwarf - Cai Lay
XFD
Dwarf
60
2002
23
Aromatic Green Dwarf - Hung Phong
AROD
Dwarf
15
2010
24
Soc Dwarf - Hung Phong
SOCD
Dwarf
20
2002
25
Xiêm Num - Giong Trom
XNGD
Dwarf
17
2012
26
Green Eo Dwarf - Giong Trom
EOGD
Dwarf
20
2012
27
Dark Green Xiêm Dwarf- Chau Thanh
XLD
Dwarf
6
2004
28
Red Xiêm Dwarf - Giong Trom
XRD
Dwarf
100
2012
29
Green Xiêm with pink husk – Ben Tre City
XTGD
Dwarf
2
1998
30
Ta Tall - Ben Luc
TAAT03
Tall
2
1998
31
Ta Tall - Tan Thoi
TAAT02
Tall
2
1998
32
Giấy Tall - Binh Thuan
GIAT
Tall
4
2001
33
Bung Tall - Binh Thuan
BUNT
Tall
4
2001
34
Chan Tall – Thanh Hoa
CHAT
Tall
2
2000
35
Tao Tall – Thanh Hoa
TAOT
Tall
2
2000
36
Khia Tall – Hue
TAAT14
Tall
3
2000
37
Ta Tall - Lang Co
TAAT15
Tall
27
2000
38
Ta Tall - Da Nang
TAAT16
Tall
5

39
Ta Tall - Quang Nam
TAAT17
Tall
37
2000
40
Ta Tall - Tam An
TAAT04
Tall
30
1997
41
Yellow Ta Tall - Tam An
TAAT06
Tall
27
1997
42
Green Ta Tall - Tam An
TAAT07
Tall
26
1997
43
Ta Tall - Phu Quoc
TAAT12
Tall
32
2010
44
Dau Tall - Cha Va
DAUT03
Tall
10
1998
45
Ta Tall - Giong Lon
TAAT11
Tall
10
1998
46
Dau Tall - Binh An
DAUT04
Tall
10
1998
47
Ta Tall - Ham Tien
TAAT08
Tall
10
1997
48
Ta Tall - Cat Trinh
TAAT09
Tall
10
1997
49
Dau Tall - Phu My
DAUT02
Tall
10
1997
50
Ta Tall - Tam Quan Nam
TAAT10
Tall
10
1997
51
Ta Tall - Phu Huu
TAAT05
Tall
10
1997
52
Dau Tall Binh An
DAUT04
Tall
10
1998


Table 2
List of the 31 coconut accessions registered 
in the Coconut Genetic Resources Database as of January 2016.


Accession
Number
International name
Population
Interna-
tional
abbreviation
Date
of planting
Number of alive palms
Date of last
counting
1
DGEC/I002
Bago-Oshiro Tall

BAOT
1987
44
1998
2
DGEC/I006
Catigan Green Dwarf

CATD
1987
43
1998
3
DGEC/L018
Dau Tall
Phu My
DAUT02
1997
36
1997
4
DGEC/L019
Dau Tall
Cha Va
DAUT03
1997
50
1997
5
DGEC/L020
Dau Tall
Binh An
DAUT04
1997
61
1997
6
DGEC/L004
Dau Tall
Giong Trom
DAUT01
1988
44
1988
7
DGEC/L006
Eo Brown Dwarf

EOD
1988
49
1998
8
DGEC/I005
Equatorial Guinea Green Dwarf

EGD
1987
60
1998
9
DGEC/I004
Ghana Yellow Dwarf

GYD
1987
60
1998
10
DGEC/L003
Lua Tall

LUAT
1988
44
1988
11
DGEC/L002
Macapuno Tall
Dua Sap
MACT02
1988
44
1988
12
DGEC/I008
Malayan Red Dwarf

MRD
1987
90
1998
13
DGEC/I007
Malayan Yellow Dwarf

MYD
1987
60
1998
14
DGEC/I003
San Ramon   Tall

SNRT
1987
44
1998
15
DGEC/I009
Sri Lanka Green Dwarf

PGD01
1987
60
1998
16
DGEC/I011
Sri Lanka Red Dwarf

SLRD01
1987
30
1998
17
DGEC/I010
Sri Lanka Yellow Dwarf

CYD01
1987
60
1998
18
DGEC/L010
Ta Tall
Tam An Dong Nai
TAAT04
1997
50
1997
19
DGEC/L011
Ta Tall
Phu Huu
TAAT05
1997
50
1997
20
DGEC/L012
Ta Tall
Tam An Vung Tau 1
TAAT06
1997
30
1997
21
DGEC/L013
Ta Tall
Tam An Vung Tau 2
TAAT07
1997
50
1997
22
DGEC/L014
Ta Tall
Ham Tien
TAAT08
1997
50
1997
23
DGEC/L015
Ta Tall
Cat Trinh
TAAT09
1997
30
1997
24
DGEC/L016
Ta Tall
Tam Quan Nam
TAAT10
1997
40
1997
25
DGEC/L017
Ta Tall
Giong Lon
TAAT11
1997
60
1997
26
DGEC/L008
Ta Tall
Tan Thoi
TAAT02
1990
60
1998
27
DGEC/L009
Ta Tall
Ben Luc
TAAT03
1990
44
1998
28
DGEC/L001
Ta Tall
Giong Trom
TAAT01
1992
44
1992
29
DGEC/L005
Tam Quan Yellow Dwarf

TYD
1988
49
1988
30
DGEC/I001
West African Tall

WAT
1987
44
1998
31
DGEC/L007
Xiem Green Dwarf

XGD
1988
49
1988
MYD was replanted in 2006, as rejuvenation, but up to now most of the Tall varieties were not rejuvenated except the San Ramon Tall from the Philippines. San Ramon Tall was rejuvenated in 2005 by controlled pollination with bagging.  No information yet about the number of female and male parent used for this rejuvenation.

Coconut varieties from farmer's fields in Vietnam

A very rare coconut with flat spikelet own by a farmer of Ben tre in Mekong Delta,
photographed in 1998 by R. Bourdeix
and....
... The same farmer (and coconut) photographed in 2016,
18 years later by R. Bourdeix - Nice to meet you again!
Back from the seed garden, we saw a farmer's plantation planted with a variety of Green Aromatic said to be imported from Thailand. This variety is not a dwarf type. On the stems, the distance between 11 leaf scars is about 45 to 50 cm, and the growth is comparable to those of King coconut variety in Sri Lanka. So all aromatic varieties are not Dwarf-types. Aromatic tender nuts are sold by farmer at farm border 2 pieces for 1 USD, when simple tender nuts from non-aromatic Green Dwarf or Tall are sold 4 pieces for 1 USD.

Aromatic Green, but not Dwarf type....


In the Ben Tré region, close to the site of the ancient "Coconut religion", we found a coconut variety which seems to be a Tall-type; it has special inflorescences characterized by very short spikelets in the distal part. The inflorescence has some similarities with those of the Tacunan Green Dwarf, a variety from the Philippines.

1. Inflorescence of the new Tall-type found in Ben Tré
2. Tacunan Green Dwarf from the Philippines
3. "Normal" shaped inflorescence of a Brazilian Green Dwarf 
New Tall-type found in Ben Tré



Yellow Makapuno Dwarf with thick meat photographed
by IOOP researcher in a farmer's field
Fruit of the progeny obtained from the Makapuno Yellow Dwarf
by embryoculture and planted in Trang Bang 


The IOOP in Vitro Culture Laboratory for producing Makapuno seedlings

On January 17th  2016, we visited the IOOP laboratory for production of Macapuno seedlings by in vitro culture.

In vitro culture is conducted in commercial glass bottles (Coca Cola or Pepsi) that are broken at the end of the process. This technique "made in Vietnam" is very cheap, as 25 bottles are bought for 1 USD. Ms Ngo indicates that the small size of the opening of the bottle is efficient to reduce contaminations when compared to other more expensive glass containers with wider opening.

Each Makapuno coconut is bought at 5 USD; two Makapuno nuts give one viable seedling from embryo culture (50% global survival rate). A Macapuno seedling from vitro culture is sold 35 USD to farmers. About 2000 seedlings are sold annually. The lab could produce more but the market is not enough, at least partially  because of the high price of the seedlings.




Makapuno in Vietnam - Dua Sap
See Publication in Cocoinfo international volume 20, 2, 2013.

As indicated long time ago by G.Santos from PCA, the pandan smell of Aromatic can also be detected at the nursery stage in the new young leaves and the roots. On adult palms, it is also possible to detect it on the young leaves, young roots (and, of course, the water of the fruit).