Genetic variation and performance of Senegal oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) natural populations
Genetic studies were carried out on oil palm germplasm originating from Senegal that was collected by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) formerly known as PORIM in 1993. A random sample of five families from each of the 13 sites (populations) was collected to provide information on differences between...
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| Summary: | Genetic studies were carried out on oil palm germplasm originating from Senegal that was collected by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) formerly known as PORIM in 1993. A random sample of five families from each of the 13 sites (populations) was collected to provide information on differences between populations, families and palms. The germplasm was planted at MPOB Kluang, Johor in June 1996. Independent Completely Randomized Design (ICRD) with two replicates was used to evaluate a total of 415 palms in trial 0.352. The materials were evaluated for the bunch yield, bunch quality, vegetative and physiological traits. The objectives of the study were to determine the performance and the genetic structure of the natural populations, the genetic variability among the progenies, to determine the heritability and to study the phenotypic correlations among all the traits. Due to missing values and deceased palms, only 358 palms were evaluated on 35 traits. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of nine populations showed significant variation for most of the traits except for kernel to fruit (K/F), kernel to bunch (K/B) and leaf area ratio (LAR). ANOVA of 14 progenies showed significant difference for most of the traits at (P≤ 0.01). Broad-sense heritability (h_B^2) estimated for bunch yield and its components where h_B^2 = 40-60%. As for bunch quality traits, heritability estimated were low to medium (h_B^2< 50%), the lowest h_B^2 of 10% for mesocarp to fruit (M/F) and the highest h_B^2 of 46% for oil yield (OY). For vegetative traits, heritability estimated were h_B^2< 65% except for frond production (FP) with the lowest h_B^2 of 12%. Physiological traits had higher heritability values of 40-60%. Fresh fruit bunch (FFB) had significant positive correlation, (r = 0.83**) with bunch number (BNO) and both traits were positively correlated (r = 0.50** and r = 0.42**) with OY. Therefore, OY can be improved by increasing BN or FFB yield. Palms from populations SEN 02 and SEN 05 performed the best among all populations and these palms can be selected for progeny testing for drought tolerance as these palms were sampled in low rainfall and high temperature part of Senegal. |
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