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Details Of Innovation
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The contributor, Tom Antony has been experimenting with patch-budding in nutmeg trees.Usually 100-120 nutmegs are required to weigh one kilogram, as are 800-1000 mace. But his budded variety requires 80-100 nutmegs to weigh one kilogram, and 300 to 350 mace nutmegs of the budded variety to weigh the same. One nutmeg weighs 8 to10 gm. and one mace weighs 2.5-3.5 gm. A 15 year-old tree yields 3500 to 5000 nutmegs a year. In the ordinary nutmeg, sex can be determined only after flowering, which usually takes 6 to 8 years. This problem does not arise in the budded variety as it yields within 4 years. Since the stock is a forest variety, the budded variety has deep roots and does not fall down in windy seasons. This high-yielding variety of budded nutmeg would be ideal for farmers, especially when the prices of many agricultural and cash crops have fallen.
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