MPOB OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) GERMPLASMS LINKED TO COMPACT TRAIT FOR HIGH DENSITY PLANTING

The compact trait in oil palm was evaluated amongst the 11 germplasms collected from Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo), Tanzania, Madagascar, Angola, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ghana. The evaluation was based on the shortness of the rachis and a low height increment (HTi). However, priority was given to selection for short rachis length (RL). The MPOB-Madagascar germplasm showed the shortest RL and was significantly different from other germplasms for dura (RL = 3.22 in, HTi = 0.21 m yr(-1)). As for tenera, the shortest RL was found in MPOB-Tanzania germplasm (RL = 4.44 m, HTi = 0.19 m yr(-1)) but not significantly different from MPOB-Guinea (RL = 4.49 m, HTi = 0.39 m yr(-1)). The coefficient of variation (CV) for both dura and tenera accessions were considerably low with most germplasm showing CV of less than 20%. The highest RL CV among duras was noted in MPOB-Madagascar germplasm (CV = 18.09%), while among teneras, high variation was observed in MPOB-Guinea gennplasm (CV =13.72%). Broad-sense heritability estimate of RL for MPOB-Madagascar was highest for dura (h(2)B = 100%) while that for MPOB-Zaire was highest for tenera (h(2)B = 100%). Phenotypic correlations were moderately positive between RL and HTi for most germplasms providing the possibility of developing compact palms suitable for higher density planting which consequently would result in increased oil palm yield per hectare. In summary, MPOB-Tanzania germplasm showed good potential for further introgression into advanced breeding populations for the generation of future compact planting materials.