Correlation and Path Analysis in Commercial Tenera Oil Palms Collected from Southern Thailand

Abstract

Background: Tenera oil palm is widely planted as a commercial plantation crop throughout Southern Thailand. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the phenotypic correlation and the direct and indirect effects among bunch yields and vegetative characteristics in commercial tenera oil palms. Methods: The oil yield, fresh fruit bunch, bunch number, average bunch weight, leaf area, leaf dry weight and rachis length were recorded from six commercial tenera oil palm progenies. The data were recorded between January 2019 and June 2020 at The Chaipattana Foundation’s oil palm plantation in Trang Province, Thailand. Result: Results show that fresh fruit bunch, average bunch weight and rachis length positively correlated with oil yield (r p =0.90**, 0.50* and 0.53, respectively), while bunch number and rachis length positively correlated with fresh fruit bunch (r p =0.58* and 0.47*, respectively). The path analysis shows that bunch number significantly correlated with fresh fruit bunch (0.58*) and strongly directly affected it (1.11). The fresh fruit bunch significantly correlated with oil yield, (0.90**) and had a strong direct (2.08) and indirect effect (1.20). These results indicate that bunch number and fresh fruit bunch are useful variables for oil yield improvement in further breeding programs of oil palm