Oil palm

Abstract

The oil palm is a perennial monocot belonging to the genus Elaeis with two main species, E. oleifera found in Central and South America and E. guineensis originating from the coastal regions of West and Central Africa from where it was later introduced in South-east Asia. Due to its higher oil yields, E. guineensis is the widely used species in oil palm plantations throughout the world. Since 2006, the oil palm has overtaken soybean to become the most important oil crop in the world, as it contributes palm oil (95%) and palm kernel oil to about one-fourth of the world's total oils and fats production. The spectacular boom of the oil palm during the past 60 years is mainly supported by continuous breeding, allowing oil yields to reach an average of 3.5 tons of palm oil/ha/year (up to 10 tons palm oil/ha/year for the best genotypes in the most suitable conditions of South-east Asia) for the present Tenera hybrids and thus, making the oil palm the highest oil-producing crop. The bulk of oil palm plantation and palm oil production is provided by Indonesia and Malaysia, as both countries contribute about 44 and 41.5%, respectively, to the world palm oil production. The application of new techniques such as molecular breeding, tissue culture and genetic engineering to oil palm breeding will undoubtedly provide a real breakthrough toward the oil palm production, as it has been the case for other oil crops. Efforts to increase yields should also be supported by the view to broaden the genetic base of the material currently available in breeding programs through collection exercises and appropriate management of the collected natural oil palm resources. Despite savings of considerable time and space and numerous other advantages expected from the implementation of the above-mentioned new disciplines to oil palm breeding, field experimentation will remain the unique way to indisputably identify promising outliers.