The low annual growth rate of the stipe in oil palm progenies is desirable to increase these crops’ productive and economic life. Recurrent reciprocal selection (R.R.S.) has allowed the development of oil palm populations through several breeding cycles with an increased frequency of favorable alleles associated with traits of interest. The present study evaluated families derived from Deli dura × African dura crosses. For 12 years, the yield, vegetative characteristics, and the amount of oil in seven dura progenies were assessed to estimate, from the information collected, the genetic parameters, heritability, and phenotypic correlations among quantitative genetic traits of high-yielding dwarf progenies. The analysis was carried out using analysis of variance, followed by a comparison of means for all estimated traits. The effect of the progenies was highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) for most traits. The yield values, expressed in fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for the progenies, ranged from 165 to 208 kg per palm per year. The oil-to-bunch ratio (O/B) ranged from 17% to 19%, with an overall average of 18%. One of the essential characteristics in this study was the vertical growth of the stipe. Progenies P6 and P7 were identified as those with the lowest annual increase in height, with values of 0.29 and 0.33 m year−1. The values indicate that these are slow-growing cultivars with a high FFB yield and O/B. The highest heritabilities were found for the vegetative trait height (71.62%) and the number of leaflets (46.64%). The development of dura parents with slow growth characteristics in combination with a high bunch and oil production allows extending the productive life of the crop to more than 35 years, providing added value to obtaining differentiated cultivars of oil palm.

Bud rot is a limiting disease that affects most oil palm crops destroying thousands of hectares in Latin America. Bud rot (BR) is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora palmivora (Butler). Integrated disease management (IDM) technology has been used to control the disease, which slows down the progress of the disease, allowing palm recovery. However, the effect of this technology on the recovery speed of treated palms is not well known. We studied the time taken for palm recovery from BR under the integrated management approach. The study was carried out on 21 oil palm commercial cultivars dura × pisifera (D × P) and O × G hybrids affected by BR in the Colombian oil palm Central Zone. The analysis included different recovery times (RT), the severity degree, time of the year (wet or dry season), number of reinfections, and cultivar. The RT of bud rot-affected palms ranges from 103 to 315 days, with an average of 202.8 days when an IDM is used. RT was lower than that reported in the diseased palms without IDM (540 days). According to the severity degree, the RT lasted 202 days for severity degree 1, 198 days for severity degree 2, and 222 with severity degree 3 and 4. In comparison, there was no significant difference between dry and rainy seasons in RT. Differences between cultivars were found; however, under IDM, all cultivars showed low RT. The IDM has a positive impact in reducing the RT to BR. Low RT has indirect effects minimizing potential yield losses, improving the number of successfully recovered palms, and reducing the risk of disease dissemination.

The success of breeding programs depends on the available genetic variability and the adequate selection of parents to produce seeds that generate added value to the developed cultivars that solve limiting problems of the crops. The determination of genetic gain is a powerful tool to advance the selection of outstanding progenitors that are subsequently used to obtain improved cultivars for traits of interest. With the main objective of calculating the genetic gain in different cycles, this research evaluated the yield, vegetative parameters, and oil production components in two oil palm populations identified as C0-Monterrey and C1-Vizcaina. The analysis was carried out using the analysis of variance. Genetic variation and heritability coefficients for all the evaluated traits were also calculated to obtain the components of phenotypic, genotypic, and environmental variation. Genetic gains (Δg) were more representative in the yield traits of fresh fruit bunches, with 19%, for the number of bunches per plant, with a Δg of 18.7%, and for the oil to bunch with a Δg of 6%. Low environmental influences were observed in the phenotypic variation for the different traits evaluated. Finally, high heritability values were observed for genetic traits such as height increase, with 93%, and average bunch weight, with 85%. The development of new progenies using elite dura-type female parents derived from these evaluated populations, with excellent yields of fresh fruit, bunch components, and slow growth, will be the future of oil palm cultivation. In the meantime, progeny trials must focus on improving the ability to select outstanding parents for the best DxP progenies.