Designing the oil palm of the future

Abstract

In order to allow for future uninterrupted growth of the oil palm industry in Malaysia, there is a need to increase yield, value-addition of the oil and reduce production costs. The collection and exploitation of germplasm material is considered a major factor in contributing towards a tremendous impact on the Malaysian oil palm industry. Improved oil palm varieties with higher yields, good oil quality, compact in architecture, better adaptation to climate change and higher tolerance to diseases have been prioritised to meet future demands of the oil palm industry. It is only natural that biotechnology and bioinformatics have been identified as the core areas to expedite improvements to achieve these objectives. The use of a combination of conventional and molecular breeding approaches is useful as they open up new avenues for crop improvement and have the potential for producing novel oil palm varieties, in terms of sustainability and its contribution to human well-being.