Areca (Areca catechu L.) is a typical commercial palm crop in the tropical zone of the world, mainly distributed in South Asia, southeast Asia and China. Areca has been cultivated in China for more than one thousand years and is listed as the top of the four southern medicines. In China, it is mainly distributed in Hainan province, accounting for more than 99 percent of the total output of areca, and there are also some cultivations in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian province. By the end of 2017, the cultivated area of areca in Hainan province had reached 150,000 hectares. It is an important source of income for more than 2 million farmers in the eastern, central and southern regions of Hainan island, especially in remote mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas.

　　CRICATAS mainly carries out research on the cultivation of areca varieties, the large-scale breeding technology of excellent seedlings, nutritional physiology and efficient cultivation and so on. It has built one areca germplasm resource nursery which collected and preserved 81 pieces of areca germplasm resources from home and abroad. In addition, the new high-yielding areca variety 'Reyan No. 1' has been promoted to a total of 1200 hectares. Three kinds of special fertilizer for areca seedling growth, promoting flower and preserving fruit and swelling fruit have been developed and one set of transformation technology for low-yielding areca orchard was integrated to improve the yield of areca by more than 30% per unit area. What’s more, it has undertaken more than 50 national, provincial and ministerial, and horizontal cooperation key projects and obtained 7 appraisal achievements. Lastly, it won 1 Hainan science and technology progress award, formulated 9 relevant industrial or local standards, obtained 11 national patents of invention, compiled 5 monographs, published more than 60 papers including 7 SCI.

       Research Department

　　Areca Research Department

　　Areca Research Department is mainly engaged in basic research, applied basic research and technology demonstration and promotion of areca germplasm resources collection, preservation, identification and evaluation, new variety selection and breeding, high-yield cultivation technology and areca plantation compound management model. Currently, there are 11 staff members, including 5 with senior professional title and 3 with doctor degrees.

　　Research Platforms

1. National Tropical Palm Germplasm Nursery( Arecaut)

2. Areca Research Center，Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences

        Research Achievements

　　1. 'Reyan No. 1' variety selection and seedling breeding

'Reyan No. 1'areca was identified by Hainan variety examination and approval committee in 2010 and approved by the national tropical crop variety examination and approval committee in June 2014. After several years of variety comparison test, the offspring of this variety showed high and stable yield. The variety has a flowering result of 4 to 5 years, and reaches a prolific period after 10 years, and the economic life span is over 60 years. The average annual output of fresh fruit is 9.52 kg/plant.

                       'Reyan No. 1' Areca                           

Areca breeding base

　　2. Areca special fertilizer research and development

　　After many years of study on soil nutrient content and nutrient demand of areca, special fertilizer for areca seedling stage, promoting flower and preserving fruit and strengthening fruit were developed in combination with the established technology of soil testing and fertilization. Application of flower promoting and fruit preserving fertilizer and fruit strengthening fertilizer can significantly increase the yield by more than 30% on average.

　　3. Transformation of low-yield areca garden

　　Based on the investigation of the basic conditions of the areca field, the technology selects the application of nutritional diagnostic formula fertilization technology, formulates the fertilization program, applies drought-resistant drip irrigation technology and integrated pest control technology to transform and promote the low-yield areca garden. The application of this technology can increase the yield of areca more than 100 percent and improve the quality of areca.

        4. Compound management model 

　　Areca intercropping can be divided into young and mature intercropping, the young intercropping crops mainly include vegetables, peppers, green manure plants, watermelons, peanuts, stylosanthes, crotalaria pallidas, etc; the mature intercropping crops mainly includes alpinia oxyphyllas, vanillas, amomi fructus ,gingers, piper betles, etc.