Kernel size for most cultivars exceeded 2 g at Wawi and Doi Muser while at Fang and Chiang Rai size was less than 1.5 g.. 1 kernel recovery at Wawi and Doi Muser was 30% or more, at Fang
Trang 1EARLY PERFORMANCE OF AUSTRALIAN AND HAWAIIAN
MACADAMIA CULTIVARS IN THAILAND
Supattra Supamatee, Philip J Ito1 and Damkerng Jalichan Highland Agriculture Office, Horticulture Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Bangkok, Thailand
First published in Proceedings of the First International Macadamia Research Conference; Kona Hilton, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA; July 28-30 1992; pp 107-111
ABSTRACT Ten macadamia cultivars (Macadamia integrifolia) were planted in 1985 at fifteen locations throughout
Thailand Initial data show that the better locations for macadamia are in the north where average minimum temperatures were 16.8 to 19.0C and maximum temperatures were 23.1 to 30.6C In the south, trees grew well and trunk girths for most cultivars were comparable to the north but few produced flowers Highest yield of 3.7 kg/WIS, was by 'Own Choice' at Chiang Rai Kernel size for most cultivars exceeded 2 g at Wawi and Doi Muser while at Fang and Chiang Rai size was less than 1.5 g Likewise, grade No 1 kernel recovery at Wawi and Doi Muser was 30% or more, at Fang and Chiang Rai it was less than 30%
Seeds of Macadamia integrifolia (Maiden et Betche) were introduced into Thailand in 1953 and seedlings planted at Fang
in 1955 and at Doi Muser in 1957 (Trochoulias, 1985) In 1968 several Hawaiian cultivars were grafted at Fang horticultural experiment station (Ito, 1988) These trees were planted in a poor location where yield and quality were erratic After providing good drainage and better maintenance, yield of the best tree was 30 kg of wet-in-shell (WIS) nuts
At present there are about 100 hectares of macadamia planted More plantings are anticipated with the increasing interest in macadamia (Ito, 1990) However, there is no reliable data for macadamia performance such as recommended cultivars and locations for Thailand
The project was initiated in 1985 by Damkerng Jalichan to address some of these problems Grafted plants were imported from Australia by the Highland Agriculture Research Office of the Department of Agriculture for testing at fifteen selected locations in Thailand Performance data such as trunk girth, flowering, yield, kernel size, quality, insect pests and diseases were recorded at the various locations
Location
The fifteen locations in Thailand were selected to encompass the various regions in the country Seven of these locations are representative of their respective area and are presented in Table 1 Latitude ranges from 7.5 to 19.8N and altitude from
100 to 1300 m Annual rainfall from the different areas ranged from 1048 to 3231mm Average maximum temperatures are from 23.1 to 33.3C while average minimum temperatures range from 16.8 to 25.4C
Topography for the selected location were flat in the south and genera lly hilly in the north Rainfall patterns differ in the various area but they commonly have a wet and dry season As expected, temperatures are much warmer in the south
Table 1: Latitude, altitude, region, rainfall and temperatures of seven locations in Thailand
Trang Cha Choeng
Sao
Sri Saket Chiang
Rai
Fang Doi Muser Wawi
Z
SW = Southwest NE = Northeast LN = Lower North SE = Southeast UN = Upper North
Cultivars
Grafted trees were planted in 1985 and consisted of ten cultivars Australian cultivars were 'Own Choice' (OC), 'Hinde' (H2) and 'Hybrid H.Y' 'Keauhou' (H.A.E.S.2 246), 'Ikaika' (333), 'Kau' (344), 'Kakea' (508), 'Keaau' (660), 'Mauka' (741) and 'Makai'
1
Professor, Department of Horticulture, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA
2
Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station selection number
Trang 2(800) were commercial cultivars developed and grown in Hawaii Trees were planted in a replicated block design with four replicates consisting of one tree of each cultivar Trees were spaced 5 x 10 m with buffer trees around the entire field Irrigation was provided as needed and 16:16:16 N:P:K fertilizer applied three times a year Weeds were controlled and a light grass mulch applied under the trees Trees trained to a central leader but at some locations branches were excessively removed for propagation Intercropping with coffee, asparagus and banana was practiced at some locations
Growth
A good indication of vigor of macadamia trees is the girth (circumference) of the trunk This girth was measured 60 cm above the ground and listed in Table 2 Growth in the warmer southern area was comparable to that of the cooler northern areas Trees grew well at Chiang Rai but did poorly in hot, dry areas of the north
The cultivar most susceptible to high temperatures in the south was 'Kakea' which was stunted, had yellow leaves and at some locations died However, in cooler northern areas, it did well with growth equal to other cultivars 'Keaau', 'Hinde' and 'Mauka' had larger girth while 'Keauhou' and 'Hybrid' had smaller trunk girth
Table 2: Trunk girth (circumference) of Australian and Hawaiian macadamia cultivars at seven locations in Thailand
Trang Cha
Cheong Sao
Sri Saket
Chiang Rai
Fang Doi
Muser
Wawi Avg std dev
(cm)
Yield
WIS yields from five years old trees are listed in Table 3 After 5 years trees produced nuts only in the four northern locations while no nuts was produced in the southern three sites probably due to high minimum temperatures Trees at Chiang Rai yielded the most, averaging 1.9 kg per tree for all cultivars followed by Wawi with 0.7 kg and 0.4 kg at Fang and Doi Muser The most productive cultivars were 'Ikaika', 'Hybrid H.Y.', 'Own Choice', and 'Hinde'
Table 3: WIS yield of five year old Australian and Hawaiian macadamia cultivars in Thailand
Chiang Rai Fang Doi Muser Wawi Avg std dev
(g/tree)
Trang 3At Doi Muser and Wawi, major flowering occurred in September to October and matured nuts were harvested in March to April At Chiang Rai and Fang, flowering occurred in February to March and nuts matured in August to September Flowering and fruiting at Doi Muser and Wawi seem more similar to Kona, Hawaii and as the trees mature, nuts will be produced throughout the year
Kernel Quality
Kernels weighing from 2 to 3 g are considered ideal for processing while kernels less than 1.5g are considered too small and those greater than 3.5 g too large for cans or bottles (Ito et al., 1980)
Kernel size for several cultivars at Wawi and Doi Muser was over 2.0 g At Fang and Chiang Rai kernel size averaged 1.3 g or less 'Own Choice' produced the largest kernels at Wawi weighing 2.9g and 'Hybrid HY' the least with 1.7 g (Table 4)
Table 4: Kernel size of Australian and Hawaiian macadamia cultivars in Thailand
Chiang Rai Fang Doi Muser Wawi Avg std dev
(g)
Percent Hawaii grade No 1 (float in water) kernel recovery of macadamia is a good measure of the quality of a cultivar under different environmental conditions (Ito et al., 1980) The percentage is calculated by multiplying the percent kernel of dry-in-shell nuts by the percent No 1 kernels
According to Table 5, at Wawi and Doi Muser, percent No 1 kernel recovery was 30% or better for several cultivars while at Chiang Rai and Fang, it was less than 30% 'Mauka' had the best quality at Wawi with 37% recovery of No 1 kernels and 'Keauhou' the least with 19% At Doi Muser 'Keaau' had the best recovery with 36% and 'Mauka' the least with 20%
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Initial data indicate that the area for macadamia production is in the north where cooler temperatures prevail and average minimum temperature is below 19C Dry, hot conditions, especially after flowering may cause poor yield and small kernels Trees grow well in the southern and northern areas but few flowers were produced in the south
Cultivars performed differently at the sites and the best WIS yield 3.7 kg was produced by 'Own Choice' at Chiang Rai Kernel size for most cultivars exceeded 2 g at Wawi and Doi Muser while at Fang and Chiang Rai kernel size was less than 1.5 g Likewise, recovery of no 1 kernels at Wawi and Doi Muser were 30% or more but at Fang and Chiang Rai quality was poor
Relative yield of No 1 kernel (WIS x % No 1 kernel) by cultivar and site (Table 6) was included by editor for comparison purposes
Trang 4Table 5: Percent recovery of No 1 kernels from Australian and Hawaiian macadamia cultivars in Thailand
Cultivars Chiang Rai Fang Doi Muser Wawi Avg std dev
Table 6 Relative yield of marketable kernels from 5 year-old macadamia trees in Thailand z
Chiang Rai Fang Doi Muser Wawi Avg
(g/tree)
z
Editor derived from Tables 3 and 5
Literature Cited
Ito, P.J., R.A Hamilton and H.H Hirae 1983 Yield and quality of five major macadamia cultivars in Hawaii Tropical
Agriculture 60: 64-66
Ito, P.J 1988 Macadamia nut research evaluation and recommendations for Thailand USAID and Thailand Department of Agriculture, Highland Research Office, Bangkok, Thailand pp 37
Ito, P.J 1990 Macadamia nut research evaluation and recommendation for Thailand USAID and Thailand Department of Agriculture, Highland Research Office, Bangkok, Thailand pp 25
Trochoulias, T 1985 Recommendation on Macadamias and preliminary advice on temperate fruit research, Australian Cooperation with the National Agricultural Research Project of Thailand, Department of Agriculture, New South Wales, Australia pp 39