Oil palm natural diversity and the potential for yield improvement

Abstract

African oil palm has the highest productivity amongst cultivated oleaginous crops. Species can constitute a single crop capable to fulfill the growing global demand for vegetable oils, which is estimated to reach 240 million tons by 2050. Two types of vegetable oil are extracted from the palm fruit on commercial scale. The crude palm oil and kernel palm oil have different fatty acid profiles, which increases versatility of the crop in industrial applications. Plantations of the current varieties have economic life-span around 25–30 years and produce fruits around the year. Thus, predictable annual palm oil supply enables marketing plans and adjustments in line with the economic forecasts. Oil palm cultivation is one of the most profitable land uses in the humid tropics. Oil palm fruits are the richest plant source of pro-vitamin A and vitamin E. Hence, crop both alleviates poverty, and could provide a simple practical solution to eliminate global pro-vitamin A deficiency. Oil palm is a perennial, evergreen tree adapted to cultivation in biodiversity rich equatorial land areas. The growing demand for the palm oil threatens the future of the rain forests and has a large negative impact on biodiversity. Plant science faces three major challenges to make oil palm the key element of building the future sustainable world. The global average yield of 3.5 tons of oil per hectare (t) should be raised to the full yield potential estimated at 11–18t. The tree architecture must be changed to lower labor intensity and improve mechanization of the harvest. Oil composition should be tailored to the evolving needs of the food, oleochemical and fuel industries. The release of the oil palm reference genome sequence in 2013 was the key step toward this goal. The molecular bases of agronomically important traits can be and are beginning to be understood at the single base pair resolution, enabling gene-centered breeding and engineering of this remarkable crop.

Brief Review on the Controversies around Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis Jacq.) Production and Palm Oil Consumption

“…Research work on the oil palm has mostly focused on selection for disease tolerance and quantitative increase of oil yields (Barcelos et al, 2015). Few studies have been done in view of improving the quality of palm oil especially regarding its saturated fatty acids composition (Van Der Vossen, 1974;Gascon & Wuidart, 1975;Noiret.…”

Variabilitas Genetik Plasma Nutfah Kelapa Sawit Asal Angola dan Seleksi Genotipe Berbasis Famili dan Individu untuk Pembentukan Breeding Population Baru

“…Panjang daunnya mencapai 8 meter. Beberapa pohon kelapa sawit berumur lebih dari 200 tahun (Barcelos et al, 2015). Beberapa hasil penelitian tentang analisis keragaman genetik spesies menunjukkan bahwa populasi liar kelapa sawit Afrika secara umum dapat dipisahkan menjadi tiga kelompok, yaitu kelompok yang berada di ujung barat Afrika, Afrika khatulistiwa dan di Pulau Madagaskar (Bakoume et al, 2015).…”

PEMANFAATAN TEKNOLOGI GENOMIKA DAN TRANSFORMASI GENETIK UNTUK MENINGKATKAN PRODUKTIVITAS KELAPA SAWIT / The Use of Genomic and Genetic Transformation Technologies for Oil Palm Productivity Improvement

“…Pada tahun yang sama, pertanaman kanola seluas 36,4 juta ha hanya mampu menghasilkan minyak kanola 23,6 juta ton (Singh et al, 2013b;Barcelos et al, 2015). Dengan demikian kelapa sawit diharapkan mampu memenuhi pertumbuhan permintaan minyak nabati dunia dalam jumlah besar dengan volume permintaan yang diperkirakan mencapai 240 juta ton minyak nabati pada tahun 2050 (Corley, 2009).…”