Genetic Diversity Among Oil Palm Parental Genotypes Revealed by Microsatellite Polymorphism and its Relationship to Progeny Performance

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is a perennial crop. One complete cycle of selection takes about 10 to 15 years and due to that, breeding and selection of the crop is slow. By developing marker assisted selection for this species, the time needed for breeding and selection could be decreased to almost half compared to that through conventional method. This study involves investigating the genetic relationship between the parental palms (dura and pisifera) and their progenies based on microsatellite markers. The general objectives of this study are to estimate genetic diversity between Dura and Pisifera parental combinations using microsatellite markers and to investigate the association between genetic diversity and progeny performance. Nine microsatellite markers were used to screen selected parental palms (15 parental duras and 4 parental pisiferas) and their progenies (16 DxP crosses). Data were scored and analysed using Biosys-1 software to calculate the genetic distance values and subsequently constructing the dendrogram. A total of 29 polymorphic bands were generated. The genetic distances among progenies ranged from 0.444 to 0.746. Considerable polymorphism of 94.5% was observed in DxP progenies. Cluster analysis based on genetic distances revealed associations among progenies which were closely in agreement with the pedigree data. The performance of 16 Dura x Pisifera progenies was evaluated for quantitative characters. A large variation among the genotypes was detected in these DxP progenies for yield and yield components. Based on pisifera components, shell to fruit ratio (S/F) exhibited the highest heritability (58.18%) among the traits examined whereas for duras within pisifera, the highest heritability correspond to palm height (HT) and rachis length (RL). Correlation analyses between genetic distances and progeny performance were estimated by simple correlation coefficient. The correlation values of genetic distances with progeny performance were mostly non-significant, except for mean nut weight (MNW) and leaf number (LN). However, the correlation of genetic distances with these characters is too low to be used as predictive value. These results indicate that genetic distances based on the microsatellite markers used in this study may not be useful for predicting progeny performance in oil palm

Genetic variation among oil palm parent genotypes and their progenies based on microsatellite markers

Knowl­edge on genetic dis­tances and rela­tion­ships among breed­ing mate­ri­als has a sig­nif­i­cant impact on crop improve­ment. Mol­e­c­u­lar mark­ers are being used increas­ingly to deter­mine the genetic dis­tance between indi­vid­u­als. In this study, microsatel­lite mark­ers were used to esti­mate the genetic dis­tances between selected oil palm par­ent lines. Microsatel­lite mark­ers are highly reli­able, inher­ited in codom­i­nant fash­ion whereby het­erozy­gotes and homozy­gotes are dis­tin­guish­able, easy to score and can be rapidly pro­duced using PCR tech­nol­ogy. Nine microsatel­lite mark­ers were used to screen selected par­ent palms (15 duras and 4 pisiferas) and their prog­e­nies (16 DxP crosses). Data were scored and analysed using the Biosys-1 soft­ware to cal­cu­late the genetic dis­tance val­ues. A total of 29 poly­mor­phic bands were gen­er­ated. The genetic dis­tances between prog­e­nies ranged from 0.089 to 0.313. These results indi­cate that microsatel­lite mark­ers are pow­er­ful tools for study­ing genetic rela­tion­ships among DxP prog­e­nies. These mark­ers should be fur­ther explored to assist oil palm breeding

Genetic variability of oil palm parental genotypes and performance of its' progenies as revealed by molecular markers and quantitative traits.

Studies were conducted to assess the genetic relationships between the parental palms (dura and pisifera) and performance of their progenies based on nine microsatellite markers and 29 quantitative traits. Correlation analyses between genetic distances and hybrids performance were estimated. The coefficients of correlation values of genetic distances with hybrid performance were non-significant, except for mean nut weight and leaf number. However, the correlation coefficient of genetic distances with these characters was low to be used as predicted value. These results indicated that genetic distances based on the microsatellite markers may not be useful for predicting hybrid performance. The genetic distance analysis using UPGMA clustering system generated 5 genetic clusters with coefficient of 1.26 based on quantitative traits of progenies. The genotypes, DP16, DP14, DP4, DP13, DP12, DP15, DP8, DP1 and DP2 belonging to distant clusters and greater genetic distances could be selected for further breeding programs

Usability of academic management system

The usability of system lies on the effectiveness and ease-of-use of a system. The main function of Academic Management System (AMS) is to assist university staff to manage students’ records. A student record embodies in various and numerous courses management, finance, examination, accommodation and other essential information. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the concept of system usability. It subsequently observes and analyzes the usability of AMS at a university by applying Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation method. As a preliminary study, the usability of AMS at one of the Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Malaysia has been chosen and assessed. The results obtained can be served as comparative guides for future betterments and references to the IHL. The study shows that the usability constructs selected are not being fulfilled in AMS. Recommendations to improve the usability of AMS are also discussed

Genetic variability in yield and vegetative traits in elite germplasm of MPOB-Nigerian dura × AVROS pisifera progenies

Genetic variability study on vegetative and yield traits was carried out through long-term evaluation of eleven MPOB-Nigerian dura × AVROS pisifera (D× P) progenies at MPOB (Malaysian Palm Oil Board) research station located in Kluang, Johor, Malaysia. The D × P progenies were laid out in randomized complete block design in two blocks with 352 oil palm plants occupying a total area of 2.59 hectares. Data on both vegetative and yield traits such as plant height (HT), leaflet number (LN), leaflet length (LL), leaflet width (LW), rachis length (RL), petiole cross-section, leaf area (LA), leaf area index (LAI), fresh fruit bunch (FFB), average bunch weight (ABW), oil yield (OY), kernel yield (KY), mesocarp to fruit (MTF), kernel to fruit (KTF), oil to bunch (OTB), kernel to bunch (KTB) were collected over the years following the standard method. Analysis of variance of the data showed a significant variation among the progenies performance for both vegetative and yield traits, revealing their differences in their genetic origin. Also significant differences were observed for G×R interactions in all the traits collected except for PCR, KPY and ABW. The progenies plant height ranges from 1.53 (PUP1328) to 2.26 m (PUP1328). Also among the traits is PCS with highest value found in progeny PUP 1174 (32.16 cm2), while the lowest reading was found in PUP 1358 (20.54 cm2). The fresh fruit bunch weight for the progenies ranged from 121.03 to 175.16 kg/ palm/yr. Progeny PUP 1303 was found to have the highest value for FFB (175.16 kg/palm/yr), KPY (7.9 kg/palm/yr) and OPY (38.87 kg/palm/yr). From the correlation study, it was found that FFB, which is the most important yield trait, was positive and highly significant with all other yield and vegetative traits except for MTF, KTF, OTB and KTB where the association was non-significant. In this study, great variability has been found to be present among these progenies and this will be of immense benefit for improvement program. Progeny PUP 1303 and PUP 1246 have been identified as the potential parent and they have been selected for further evaluation trial

Relationships between phyllotaxis and agronomic performance among dura parents and its selfed progenies in oil palm

Relationships of 30 selfed oil palm dura progenies and its parents were analysed based on phyllotaxis. 48 palms per progeny were involved and planted in 3 replicates.The data collected were the type of phyllotaxis, bunch yield and bunch quality characters. The t-test showed no differences for number of palms between the right- and left-handed phyllotaxis among the dura progenies. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), non-significant differences for phyllotaxis, and progeny x phyllotaxis interaction items were observed for all the yield and bunch quality characters. This suggested that there was no influence of phyllotaxis on the yield and bunch quality characters of the oil palm population. Heritability estimates for bunch yield and bunch quality characters were low to moderate, ranging from 6.59% to 38.04%. Five characters, average bunch weight (ABW), kernel to fruit ratio (K/F), oil yield (OY), total oil (TOIL) and total economic product (TEP) showed higher heritability values for the right-handed phyllotaxis, whereas the other five characters, fresh fruit bunch (FFB), bunch number (BNO), mesocarp to fruit ratio (M/F), shell to fruit ratio (S/F) and oil to bunch ratio (O/B) showed the opposite trend. This indicated that phyllotaxis did not significantly influence the heritability estimates among the characters

Challenges of urban garden initiatives for food security in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sustainable urban farming is a strategy to improve food availability and food access, and to support food security for the urban population in Malaysia. However, the development of these activities has been affected by several constraints. This article aims to identify the challenges faced by urban farmers in Kuala Lumpur. The challenges of practicing urban gardening were categorised into five groups (technical, resource-related, economic, social and environmental factors). Data were collected via a questionnaire survey distributed to 106 urban farming practitioners from 17 urban gardens in Kuala Lumpur and were analysed using descriptive analysis by tabulating the frequency and percentage. The result showed that highly fluctuating weather, problems with access to available land and financial problems were the main challenges faced by urban farmers in Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, difficulty in access to a financial institution, lack of commitment and the increased number of pests were also the problems faced by the urban garden. Availability of technical factors is the least issue in this study. Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the challenges of urban gardens and socio-demographics. The result showed that there was a weak correlation between technical factors of educational level (r = 0.225) and race (r = 0.210), respectively, as well as between race and social factor (r = 0.201), while there was a moderate correlation between age and environment factor (r = −0.410). There is a need for further work, and comprehensive research should be conducted to capture what actions can be taken to create a policy-making space for urban farmers

Variability and performance evaluation of introgressed Nigerian dura x Deli dura oil palm progenies

Twelve introgressed oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) progenies of Nigerian dura x Deli dura were evaluated for bunch yield, yield attributes, bunch quality components and vegetative characters at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board Research Station, in Keratong, Pahang, Malaysia. Analysis of variance revealed significant to highly significant genotypic differences, indicating sufficient genetic variability among the progenies for bunch yield and its attributes, vegetative characters and bunch quality components, except fruit to bunch ratio. Fresh fruit bunch yield ranged from 167 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1) in PK1330 to 212 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1) in PK1351, with a mean yield of 192 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1). Among the progeny, PK1313 had the highest oil to bunch ratio (19.36%), due to its high mesocarp to fruit ratio, fruit to bunch ratio and low shell to fruit ratio. Among the progenies, PK1313 produced the highest oil yield of 31.4 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1), due to a high mesocarp to fruit ratio (61.2%) and a low shell to fruit ratio (30.7%), coupled with high fruit to bunch ratio (65.6%). PK1330 was found promising for selection, as it had desirable vegetative characters, including smaller petiole cross section (27.15 cm2), short rachis length (4.83 m), short palm height (1.85 m), and the lowest leaf number (164.6), as these vegetative characters are prerequisites for selecting palms for high density planting and high yield per hectare. The genetic variability among the progenies was found to be high, indicating ample scope for further breeding, followed by selection

Genetic Diversity Assessment of MPOB-Senegal Oil Palm Germplasm Using Microsatellite Markers

Molecular characterization of oil palm germplasm is crucial in utilizing and conserving germplasm with promising traits. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity structures and relationships among 26 families of MPOB-Senegal oil palm germplasm using thirty-five microsatellite markers. High level of polymorphism (P=96.26%), number of effective allele (Ne=2.653), observed heterozygosity (Ho=0.584), expected heterozygosity (He=0.550), total heterozygosity (HT=0.666), and rare alleles (54) were observed which indicates that MPOB-Senegal germplasm has a broad genetic variation. Among the SSR markers, sMo00053 and sMg00133 were the most informative markers for discrimination among the MPOB-Senegal oil palm germplasm for having the highest private alleles and the rare alleles. For selection and conservation, oil palm populations with high rare alleles and Nei’s gene diversity index should be considered as these populations may possess unique genes for further exploitation

Loss of Karma transposon methylation underlies the mantled somaclonal variant of oil palm

Somaclonal variation arises in plants and animals when differentiated somatic cells are induced into a pluripotent state, but the resulting clones differ from each other and from their parents. In agriculture, somaclonal variation has hindered the micropropagation of elite hybrids and genetically modified crops, but the mechanism responsible remains unknown. The oil palm fruit 'mantled' abnormality is a somaclonal variant arising from tissue culture that drastically reduces yield, and has largely halted efforts to clone elite hybrids for oil production. Widely regarded as an epigenetic phenomenon, 'mantling' has defied explanation, but here we identify the MANTLED locus using epigenome-wide association studies of the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis. DNA hypomethylation of a LINE retrotransposon related to rice Karma, in the intron of the homeotic gene DEFICIENS, is common to all mantled clones and is associated with alternative splicing and premature termination. Dense methylation near the Karma splice site (termed the Good Karma epiallele) predicts normal fruit set, whereas hypomethylation (the Bad Karma epiallele) predicts homeotic transformation, parthenocarpy and marked loss of yield. Loss of Karma methylation and of small RNA in tissue culture contributes to the origin of mantled, while restoration in spontaneous revertants accounts for non-Mendelian inheritance. The ability to predict and cull mantling at the plantlet stage will facilitate the introduction of higher performing clones and optimize environmentally sensitive land resources