PHENOTYPIC VARIABILITY OF Elaeis oleifera GERMPLASM REVEALED BY PRINCIPAL COMPONENT AND CLUSTER ANALYSES

Despite the fact that large Elaeis oleifera germplasm collections have been established and evaluated, little is known about the genetic diversity of its population. For this purpose, 572 E. oleifera palms from eight germplasm collections together with one introgressed population (Oleifera x Oleifera) were evaluated from 17 sets of field data. The data were then subjected to principal component and cluster analyses. Correlation analysis among traits of E. oleifera showed a similar trend as Elaeis guineensis, and most of the characters displayed a wide range of variation. In the principal component analysis, the first four principal components (PC1-PC4) with eigenvalue of >1.0, accounted for 96.32% of the total variability, suggesting that E. oleifera accessions can be clearly differentiated using the traits studied. Cluster analysis showed that all accessions were clustered into two major groups (consisting of four sub-clusters), generally attributed to their geographical locations in Central and South America. The information obtained from this study aims to provide solutions for a more efficient and manageable approach towards conservation of the E. oleifera germplasm.