Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering of Oil Palm

Published Date
Palm Oil
2012, Pages 87–135, doi:10.1016/B978-0-9818936-9-3.50007-1

• Author 

• Ghulam Kadir Ahmad Parveez
• Omar A. Rasid
• Ahmad Tarmizi Hashim
• Zamzuri Ishak
• Samsul Kamal Rosli
• Ravigadevi Sambanthamurthi

Publisher Summary

Due to the limitations of conventional breeding, biotechnology, mainly tissue culture and genetic engineering, was chosen as an additional means to improve the yield and quality of the important monocot oil bearing tree oil palm. Using tissue culture method, regenerants carrying the same genetic material as their originator could be theoretically produced. It allows a large scale duplication of highly productive palms not achieved via conventional breeding. With the increase in world population, the demand for palm oil has also increased and it is hoped that the planting of clonal palms would increase the oil yield without the need to increase the arable land area. On the other hand, using genetic engineering, specific genes of interest can be directly introduced into a genome without any time spent in growing the plant and then crossing it. This chapter discusses the work and progress made mainly by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) on their tissue culture and genetic engineering efforts on oil palm. Transgenic oil palms are being produced for niche market, such as the oleochemical industry, lubrication, and nutraceuticals.

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 Table 4-A

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Copyright © 2012 AOCS Press. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780981893693500071

Oil Palm Genomics

Published Date
Palm Oil
2012, Pages 59–86, doi:10.1016/B978-0-9818936-9-3.50006-X

• Author 

• Meilina Ong Abdullah
• Maria Madon
• Eng Ti Leslie Low
• Maizura Ithnin
• Rajinder Singh

Publisher Summary

Plant genomics is reversing the previous paradigm of identifying genes behind biological functions and instead focuses on finding biological functions behind genes. The oil palm belongs to the genus Elaeis, which contains two species, E. Guineensis and E. oleifera. It is regarded as the most efficient oil-bearing crop in the world compared to other crops of the same genre in terms of land use. However, the oil yield of oil palm has reached stagnation of late and there is an urgent need for improvement. Hence, this chapter discusses the current trend of leveraging genomics in the production of new and improved planting materials. The genomic platforms form the resource toward achieving the target of producing superior oil palms. As with other plant genomes, the oil palm has now been sequenced and with the plummeting price of sequencing as time goes by, more genomes will follow suit. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is known to have the largest oil palm germplasm collection in the world. That is an ideal source for identifying new alleles essential for breeding.

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Fig. 3.1.

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Copyright © 2012 AOCS Press. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978098189369350006X

Breeding and Genetics of the Oil Palm

Published Date
Palm Oil
2012, Pages 31–58, doi:10.1016/B978-0-9818936-9-3.50005-8

Author 

• Aik Chin Soh

Publisher Summary

The African oil palm (Elaeis quinensis), which produces the palm oil for international trade, is endemic to tropical Africa, although its centers of origin diversity are concentrated in west and central Africa. The American oil palm (E. oleifera) is endemic to Latin America stretching from the Amazon to northern Mexico. Both occur as lowland semi-wild forest groves near river fringes and are often associated with native settlements or their migratory activities. The oil palm plantation expansion was spurred on by private plantation companies becoming interested in commercial hybrid seed production and investing in oil palm breeding. Mixed T or D × P hybrids have been the dominant commercial planting materials until today. The oil palm, being the highest yielding oil crop and its versatile oil uses besides food would play an increasingly important role, especially with new countries venturing into planting oil palm. The challenge is to be able to produce more palm oil sustainably in the future scenario of depleting suitable land, energy, environment, and, in certain acute situations, human resources. In terms of breeding, it is in the development of more efficient palms with the ideotype traits: high biomass production from high density planting of dwarf genotypes with high HI, NUE, WUE, and added value products and easily harvestable trees with light mechanical tools. Concerted efforts in broadening the oil palm genetic base and the development of improved biotechnological/genomic tools to assist breeding would contribute greatly toward meeting the challenge.

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Copyright © 2012 AOCS Press. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

For further details log on website :
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780981893693500058