Sustainability of the Oil Palm Industry

The oil palm (Elaies guineensis Jacq) is the largest produced and highly traded vegetable oil globally yet has the lowest cost of production and significantly higher productivity compared to other oil crops. The crop has the potential of alleviating poverty for smallholders and lifting the economies of countries with large scale production notably, Malaysia and Indonesia and currently on high demand for use as biofuel feedstock. Irrespective of these advantages of the oil palm, there is a global concern on the devastating impact of the crop on the environment and ecosystem during plantation developments and expansions. Deforestation, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution and toxic compounds from palm oil mill effluents (POME) are some of the negative impacts of the oil palm. For the industry to be more beneficial and impactful globally, sustainability strategies becomes urgent need. Sustainability strategies such as increasing the yield of oil palm, precision agriculture, sustainability certification, support for smallholders and circular economy have been put across to curtail the negative impacts of oil palm expansion

Transcriptome of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) roots treated with Ganoderma boninense

Basal stem rot (BSR) is the most devastating disease of oil palm. In this study, we examined the transcriptional responses of oil palm roots treated with a causal agent of BSR, Ganoderma boninense using a cDNA microarray approach. A total of 61 from 3,748 transcripts examined were found to be significantly up- or down-regulated in oil palm roots infected with G. boninense at 3 and 6 weeks post inoculation compared to those from uninfected roots. The differentially expressed genes identified in the artificially infected oil palm roots included genes encoding isoflavone reductase, Em protein H2, SPX domain-containing protein 1, pathogenesis-related protein 1, vicilin-like antimicrobial peptide. The gene expression of isoflavone reductase, which is involved in the production of phytoalexin and three related genes in the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway was also profiled in the treated oil palms using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR. This information has contributed to our understanding of the defense mechanisms of oil palm in response to G. boninense, the future development of molecular markers for marker assisted breeding and screening of oil palms that are tolerant to G. boninense

Comparison of nutrient composition in kernel of tenera and clonal materials of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.).

Nutritive information about oil palm kernel is scarce, especially on the composition of sugars and water-soluble vitamins. This study aims to evaluate both tenera and clonal materials for their proximate composition, fatty acid profile, amino acid composition, sugar, mineral and water-soluble vitamin contents. The tenera material had a higher moisture, fat and fibre content as compared to the clonal material, whereas protein, carbohydrate and ash content were higher in the clonal material. The major fatty acid constituents in palm kernel oil were lauric acid, myristic acid and oleic acid. The palm kernel proteins were deficient in lysine and tryptophan but rich in glutamic acid, arginine and aspartic acid. Sucrose was the most abundant sugar in palm kernel. The mineral analysis of the samples showed high levels of potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and manganese, while niacin was the water-soluble vitamin present at the highest concentrations in palm kernel

A histological study of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) endosperm during seed development

Information on histological features of oil palm is scarce, especially on seed development. This study aims to examine the cell structure and anatomy of developing oil palm seed. The seeds were analysed by histochemical technique and light microscopy. At early developmental stages, a vacuole fluid-filled endosperm was formed. As the seed developed further, the enlargement of the endosperm size was observed accompanied by cellularisation. Cells were formed from the periphery towards the centre of the endosperm. Accumulation of storage reserves within the cells started at week 10 after anthesis. Polysaccharides were stored in the form of thickened walls whilst lipid and protein were stored in the cytoplasm. At late developmental stages, the endosperm cavity was fully cellularised and storage reserves accumulated within the entire cell. A small cylindrical embryo was seen embedded within the massive endosperm tissue. The endosperm functions as a nutrient reservoir for the embryo. This histological study of developing oil palm seeds provides information on the nature and anatomical changes in endosperm tissues as well as shedding light on the growing points of seed development

Biochemical characterisation during seed development of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis)

Developmental biochemical information is a vital base for the elucidation of seed physiology and metabolism. However, no data regarding the biochemical profile of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) seed development has been reported thus far. In this study, the biochemical changes in the developing oil palm seed were investigated to study their developmental pattern. The biochemical composition found in the seed differed significantly among the developmental stages. During early seed development, the water, hexose (glucose and fructose), calcium and manganese contents were present in significantly high levels compared to the late developmental stage. Remarkable changes in the biochemical composition were observed at 10 weeks after anthesis (WAA): the dry weight and sucrose content increased significantly, whereas the water content and hexose content declined. The switch from a high to low hexose/sucrose ratio could be used to identify the onset of the maturation phase. At the late stage, dramatic water loss occurred, whereas the content of storage reserves increased progressively. Lauric acid was the most abundant fatty acid found in oil palm seed starting from 10 WAA

Floral micromorphology and transcriptome analyses of a fragrant Vandaceous Orchid, Vanda Mimi Palmer, for its fragrance production sites

Vanda Mimi Palmer (VMP), a commercially viable orchid derived from the crossing of Vanda Tan Chay Yan and Vanda tessellata (Roxb.) Hk.f. ex G. Don, is endowed with the terrate-shaped fower of Vanda Tan Chay Yan as well as the tri-colour and strong foral scent of Vanda tessellata. Its sweet fragrance-producing ability earned it the Champion Award for Fragrant Orchid organized by the Royal Horticultural Society of Tailand in 1993 and the Best Orchid Fragrance in the 17th World Orchid Conference in 2002 [1]. VMP is popular in Malaysia, being mainly cultivated for potted-fower production. Fragrance plays various functions in both foral and vegetative organs. Floral scent emission, in addition to colour, shape, surface structure and nectar guides, is a crucial strategy of plants to attract benefcial pollinating insects in ensuring reproduction [2–4]. Floral fragrances vary widely among species in terms of the number, identity, and relative amounts of constituent volatile compounds. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis revealed that the VMP fowerproduced a fragrance composed of terpenoid, benzenoid and phenylpropanoid compounds [5]

A model for predicting flower development in Elaeis guineensis Jacq

The proper development of oil palm fruit is important as the source of oil is the fruit mesocarp and kernel. Prior to fruit formation, the development of flowers is therefore also important. Determination of the flower development stages in oil palm generally involves tedious histological analyses of each sampled inflorescence, making it a costly and inefficient way of gauging the developmental state. In this study, a statistical model was established from the association of physical or macroscopic measurement data to flower development, which was determined via histological analyses. The final reduced ordinal logistic regression model is a partial proportional odds model that uses inflorescence length and palm age as predictors to predict the flower development stage. The likelihood-ratio χ2 test suggested the model adequately fits the data (p<0.01). The model, with a prediction accuracy of 78.5%, can be used for selecting inflorescences of specific development stages from palms aged three to 10 years of field-planting. These stages can be further verified by histological analyses. This lowers the overall costs and time by reducing the number of samples requiring histological analysis prior to downstream studies

A novel transcript of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), Eg707, is specifically upregulated in tissues related to totipotency

In this study, we report the molecular characterization of clone Eg707 isolated from cell suspension culture of the oil palm. The deduced polypeptide of clone Eg707 is highly similar to an unknown protein from Arabidopsis thaliana. The presence of an Ald-Xan-dh-C2 superfamily domain in the deduced protein sequence suggested that Eg707 protein might be involved in abscisic acid biosynthesis. Eg707 might be present as a single copy gene in the oil palm genome. This gene is highly expressed in tissue cultured materials compared to vegetative and reproductive tissues, suggesting a role of this gene during oil palm somatic embryogenesis or at the early stages of embryo development. Expression analysis of Eg707 by RNA in situ hybridization showed that Eg707 transcripts were present throughout somatic embryo development starting from proembryo formation at the embryogenic callus stages till the maturing embryo stages. Since proembryo formation within the embryogenic callus is one of the first key factors in oil palm somatic embryo development, it is suggested that Eg707 could be used as a reliable molecular marker for detecting early stage of oil palm somatic embryogenesis

Isolation and characterization of differentially expressed transcripts from the suspension cells of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in response to different concentration of auxins

Oil palm suspension cultures were initiated by transferring the gel-like friable embryogenic tissue onto liquid medium supplemented with auxins. In this study, transcripts that were differentially expressed in oil palm suspension cells cultured at different auxin concentrations were examined using suppression subtractive hybridization. Total RNA was first isolated from oil palm suspension cells proliferated in liquid medium with different hormone concentrations for 6 months. Four different hormone combinations: T1 (0.1 mg/l 2,4-D and 1.0 mg/l NAA), T2 (0.4 mg/l 2,4-D and 1.0 mg/l NAA), T3 (1.0 mg/l NAA), and T4 (0.4 mg/l 2,4-D) were used for the treatments. The first and second subtractions were performed using samples T1 and T2 in forward and reverse order. The other two subtractions were forward and reverse subtractions of T3 and T4, respectively. Reverse northern analyses showed that 14.13% of these clones were preferentially expressed in T1, 13.70% in T2, 14.75% in T3, and 15.70% in T4. Among the 294 cDNA clones that were sequenced, 61 contigs (assembled from 165 sequences) and 129 singletons were obtained. Among the 61 contigs, 10 contigs consist of sequences from treatment T1, 8 contigs were from treatment T2, 10 contigs were contains sequences of treatment T3 and 13 contigs contains sequences of treatment T4. Northern analyses of five transcripts that were shown to be differentially expressed in the oil palm suspension cells by reverse northern analysis revealed that transcripts 16A1 (a putative lignostilbene-α,β-dioxygenase, EgLSD) and 16H12 (a putative ethylene responsive 6, EgER6) were differentially expressed in oil palm suspension cells treated with different levels of auxin

IMPACT OF PACLOBUTRAZOL ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF NURSERY GROWN CLONAL OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

The economic life of an oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) plant is associated with the stature of the palm as the height of each oil palm affects the cost of harvesting. Shorter palm allows ease of harvesting and better fruit recovery hence contributes to the increase of the fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of paclobutrazol (PBZ), an inhibitor of gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis, on the growth and development of clonal oil palms maintained under nursery conditions. Application of PBZ significantly reduced the growth of clonal palms with the optimal concentration of PBZ being 50 mg litre-1 when applied as a foliar spray. PBZ-treated palms exhibited shorter fronds that were dark green in colour and plants had a more compact structure as compared to untreated controls. Longitudinal sections of PBZ-treated oil palm clones revealed that both leaves and stems comprised of fewer cells each with a smaller volume. PBZ-treated plants exhibited a higher rate of photosynthesis compared to controls and this was correlated with an accumulation of starch in stem cells. These results provide evidence that the vegetative growth of oil palm is regulated by GA levels and that by manipulating the concentration of these hormones it may be possible to attenuate the oil palm height and ultimately increase productivity