The unique high foliage producing Pandan accession was collected from Malacca Village (IC No. 0646223) of Car Nicobar Islands, Andaman and Nicobar Islands conserved and evaluated at ICAR- Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair. It has been observed that the plant foliage production was 430 g/plant/year under rainfed condition. There was no disease and pests were observed. Besides, this high foliage production type is considered unique owing to the higher foliage yield potential in terms of number of leaves per plant, regular foliage production makes them suitable for processing. The identified Pandan accession has potential to breed new varieties and this particular accession is multiplied through rhizome/lateral cuttings for further evaluation. The Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. accession was registered as a high foliage production accession at ICAR and obtained the registration number INGR 24069.
A study was undertaken among Macaranga nicobarica (IC-626370), M. tanarius and M. indica to identify the species best suited for commercial plate making. Leaf characteristics with their production pattern were recorded in six branches of each species. The leaves of M. nicobarica turned from pale green to dark green while that of M. indica and M. tanarius turned from pale green to shaded green on maturity. The number of leaf scar per meter stem was 12 in M. nicobarica and M. tanarius; and 13 in M. indica. It took 30 days for a leaf to mature in M. nicobarica and M. indica when the leaves of M. tanarius mature in 27 days. Leaf length (96.13 cm), leaf width (74.21 cm), mid rib length (75.76 cm), leaf area (5059 cm2), petiole length (55.57 cm), petiole diameter (2.4 cm), leaf fresh weight (158.5 g), and leaf dry weight (93.85 g) were significantly highest in M. nicobarica followed by M. indica (35.57 cm, 33 cm, 27.07 cm, 954.57 cm2, 27.31 cm, 0.54 cm, 96.53 g and 42.63 g respectively) and M. tanarius (24.66 cm, 21.17 cm, 21.51 cm, 511.4 cm2, 12.37 cm, 0.33 cm, 44.09 g and 21.42 g respectively). Owing to their desirable leaf area, fresh weight and colour, fresh leaves of M. nicobarica and M. indica were found to best suit for making plates on commercial scale to reduce the usage of plastic plates in these ecologically fragile Islands. The M. nicobarica accession was registered as a high foliage production accession at ICAR and obtained the registration number INGR 24083.