Conservation of oil palm and coconut genetic resources

Abstract

In Malaysia, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) germplasm was collected in 11 African countries. Recently, Indonesia and Colombia collected Elaeis guineensis genetic materials in Cameroon and Angola. CIRAD has limited collections from Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria. MPOB sampled Elaeis oleifera in nine Central South American countries. ASD Costa Rica, Empraba Brazil, CENIPALMA Colombia and Ecuador have comprehensive collections from Brazilian Amazon Basin, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Suriname and Taisha-Ecuador. The bulk of the oil palm genetic resources are conserved in the form of field genebanks. The oil palm seeds can be stored for 12-15 months at 10-15 % moisture content at 15°C. The coconut seeds are highly recalcitrant. Cryopreservation of oil palm zygotic embryos is currently stored in the cryotank in MPOB. More than 34,000 zygotic embryos of accessions from Tanzania, Guinea, Madagascar, Cameroon, Angola, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria and Zaire are conserved. Similarly, coconut embryos too can be preserved in liquid nitrogen. Tissue culture technique is used in oil palm to multiply and conserve elite germplasm. Some oil palm DXP crosses give fresh fruit bunches (FFB) of more than 30 tonnes per hectare and oil palm extraction rate (OER) of more than 27 %. MPOB has established DNA genebank for oil palm. DNA of all parental palms involved in the breeding programme and DNA of all elite palms with unique attributes is stored to verify legitimacy of crosses and for finger-printing.