Oil palm genetic resources and their utilization - a review
2006
Rajanaidu N. | Kushairi A. | Rafii M. Y. | Mohd Din A. | Maizura I. | Isa Z. A. | Jailani B. S.
MPOB has assembled the largest Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera oil palm germplasm in the world. Elaeis guineensis collections were sampled in Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire, Tanzania,Geographic Origin Madagascar, Angola, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea Conakry and Ghana. These materials are being evaluated for yield, oil content, fatty acid composition, physiological and vegetative traits (height), carotene and vitamin E content. The palms collected in Nigeria were evaluated in the field and some of them could yield 10 to 12, tonnes of oil per hectare per year. In addition, the palms from Nigerian population 12 are short of geographic Origin with a height increment of 20-25 cm per annum compared to 45-75 cm with present planting material. The dwarf palms would be extremely useful to the industry because they would reduce the cost of harvesting and lengthen the replanting cycle. The selected Nigerian,Cameroon and Zaire duras, teneras and pisiferas are being utilized for broadening the genetic variability of current duras and teneras and initiating new breeding populations. At present, theoil palm germplasm is conserved as a field genebank in Malaysia. Experiments are being conducted to preserve oil palm germplasm using in vitro methods such as cryopreservation of seeds and somatic embryos. A part of the original Nigerian germplasm has been regenerated by making five biparental crosses within the same population. Molecular techniques such as RFLP, AFLP, RAPD and isoenzyme methods are being used to study the genetic variation of natural oil palm populations. Results of these studies show that there is a considerable level of genetic variation between oil palm populations sampled withincountries and also between countries. This information is useful to devise future sampling strategies for collection and conservation.
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