The performance of binga-yangambi derived pisifera palms in peninsula Malaysia

In 1963, Unilever, Dunlop, later acquired by Industrial Oxygen Incorporated (IOI), Guthrie and Harrisons & Crossfield set up a joint research unit, the Oil Palm Genetics Laboratory (OPGL) in Malaysia to improve oil palm breeding. In 1974 IOI Research Station received advanced oil palm breeding populations developed through the OPGL programme. Among the breeding populations acquired were the Ulu Remis deli dura and Binga-Yangambi pisifera breeding populations; these populations will be referred to as IOI deli dura (IDD) and IOI Binga-Yangambi (IBY) populations, respectively. The performance of these populations is presented in this paper. Three IBY pisifera palms were progeny tested in Trial 0/10-10/PL, conducted by IOI Research Centre at Paya Lang Estate, South of Peninsula Malaysia in Sept., 1990. Each of these IBY pisifera palm (as male) was crossed to seven IDD palms (as females) in a mating design commonly referred to as the North Carolina Mating Design 1 (NCMI). The 21 IBY derived DxP progenies and a control PK609, a PORIM Avros DxP, were evaluated in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with five replications. Comparative studies of the bunch and fruit characteristics, five-year FFB and oil yields between IBY DxP progenies and control PK609 and among the IBY DxP progenies were carried out. For the bunch and fruit characteristics, the ANOVA showed significant differences among DxP progenies for fruit to bunch (FB), oil to dry mesocarp (ODM) and oil to bunch (O/B). The ANOVA was not able to detect significant differences among progenies for mesocarp to fruit (MF), shell to fruit (SF) and kernel to fruit (KF). For yield and its components, the ANOVA detected significant differences among progenies for FFG yield, number of bunches (BNO), average bunch weights (ABW) and oil yield. Comparative studies showed that progenies of the IBY pisifera palms are significantly higher yielding than the control PK609. The IBY derived DxP progenies showed oil yield improvements of 27.5-30 percent above that of control PK609. This was achieved through their higher fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yields and oil to bunch (OB) ratios. The FFB yields and OB were about 18 percent and 7 percent, respectively, above that of the control PK609. No significant differences were detected among the three IBY pisiferas for MF, KF, SF, OB, FFB yield and oil yield, indicating that DxP hybrids derived from IBY pisifera are quite uniform for these important characters. The commercial production of the IOI DxP seeds from the IDD mother palms and these selected IBY pisifera palms will ensure that the oil palm planting material are of superior genetic potential and uniformly high yielding, thus ensuring high profitability for oil palm growers