Final report : PSTC [program in science and technology cooperation] project no. 9.396 -- `high density techniques in palm heart production"

The study was divided into three main sections: (1) variety trials, under which, of four candidate palms tested, the royal palm outproduced the others and produced palm hearts of excellent quality; (2) spacing-fertilizer trials, under which populations of 60,000 palms/ha fertilized with 200 lbs N/ha in double rows produced approximately 4.5 to 5.0 tons of palm heart/ha; and (3) semi-commercial planting, a pursuit which the study discarded because of high leaf infection of the fungus helminthosportium sp. under the high humidity and plant populations of these tests. Overall, the study proved that palm hearts could be produced at densities of up to 100,000 plants/ha. To be commercially feasible, however, the problem of high leaf fungal infection must be resolved. (Author abstract, modified)