Oil palm breeding: the anchor for genome-based technology

Breeding of a perennial crop like oil palm takes a long selection cycle of about 10 years before getting the final economic product. As such, achieving genetic gains solely through conventional plant breeding can be an extremely slow and tedious process. In addition to that oil palm requires large land space for field planting, as only about 140-150 palms are planted per hectare. The revolution in life sciences signaled by genomics dramatically changed the scale and scope of application in plant improvement. Application of genomics-based technologies is well suited for oil palm and this has led to huge investments in the area of plant genomics to help improve the speed and efficiency for producing new and improved planting materials. However, application of genomic based technologies in plant breeding is not possible without systematic development of breeding programmes. In fact systematic development of classical breeding programmes and precise phenotypic data collection forms the backbone of improvement using genomics based approaches. Furthermore the collection and characterization of a wide range of germplasm materials with unique characteristics offer enormous potential for genetic dissection of complex and important agricultural traits using new and improved statistical techniques such as association mapping and genome wide association selection (GWAS). MPOB's breeding and selection programme over the last three decades has laid the foundation for application of genomic based technologies for crop improvement. Starting with establishment of appropriate parental lines for whole genome sequencing, collection and cataloguing of an impressive germpalsm collection from Africa and South America to establishing appropriate crosses for linking of markers to traits of interest, the breeding programme at MPOB has been instrumental in the progress made in the area of oil palm genomics. The Deli dura (0.212/70), AVROS pisifera (0.182/77 ) and oleifera (0.211/2460) palms used for whole genome sequencing were selected by breeders due their impressive progeny test data accumulated over the years via conventional breeding, making it possible to relate the genome sequence to actual phenotypic parameters. Extensive evaluation of germplasm material has also revealed materials with traits of economic interest vis-a-vis palms with high iodine value (IV), high carotene, high vitamin E, high oleic acid and high kernel content. These palms are not only the source of new genes for incorporation into the existing breeding gene pool, but also provide the platform for application of genomics tools to dissect and understand the molecular mechanism associated with these traits. Understanding the genetic basis of the polymorphism governing the traits is important for the appropriate application of molecular markers in a breeding programme. In fact at MPOB systematic evaluation of germplasm material such as a progeny derived from selfing of a high IV Nigerian tenera palm and an interspecific hybrid involving the same Nigerian palm has resulted in identification of the genomic loci influencing fruit form and fruit colour as well as quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with fatty acid composition. The systematic development and evaluation of the breeding populations has allowed rapid progress to be made in the area of oil palm genomics and also laid the foundation for application of these tools for further improvement of the breeding lines.