Species of Palm Oil and their Propagation
Palm oil is a tropical vegetable oil derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree. It is commonly used in cooking. It is also found in cosmetics and cleaning products. It is often sold in specialty stores. The oil palm originated in West Africa but is now grown as a hybrid throughout the world. It is particularly abundant in tropical regions within 20 degrees of the equator. The various species of palm oil have their unique qualities which have made this tropical plant an economic gold mine.
Palm Oil of Species
Elaeis guineensis
Palm oil is a renewable natural resource that can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. It is used in cooking and food processing, and is a major ingredient in soaps, detergents, and cosmetic products. It also has a number of industrial applications, including biodiesel and lubricants. It is a multifunctional product, and it has many health benefits. Its uses are growing, and it has become the world’s most important vegetable oil.
The African oil palm is a tropical plant that produces both kernel and fruit oils. It is native to western and southwestern Africa. Its fruits are an important source of vegetable oil and its fronds provide a natural source of olein. Kernel oil is also a vegetable fat, and it can be used for frying or creating ice cream. It is also a common ingredient in bakery fats and margarine.
Like most plants, Elaeis guineensis, as a species of palm oil, is green because of the presence of chlorophyll, a pigment responsible for absorbing and converting sunlight into chemical energy. Its leaves have a pattern of pinnate segments that are dark green on the upper surface and light green on the lower surface. Its flowers are borne on branched inflorescences and produce oval-shaped fruits, which turn from green to orange or red when ripe.
In its native habitat, Elaeis guineensis grows in the forested portions of West Africa. Its cultivation is an important part of the economy in the region, but 90% of the world’s commercial oil palm is grown in Southeast Asia. It is an important source of vegetable oils, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The genus Elaeis includes two species, E. oleifera and E. guineensis. The latter is the “oil palm of commerce,” and it is presently the dominant plant for vegetable oil production. It is native to tropical West Africa and has a chromosome number of 2n = 32.
The oil palm is a tall plant with a single stem that can grow up to 20 meters high. Its crown contains pinnate leaves that are dark green and arranged in spirals. The fronds and inflorescences are monoecious, with male and female inflorescences occurring separately. This enforces cross-pollination and allows wind and insects to aid in pollen dispersal.
Elaeis tenera
The oil palm plant is a multi-purpose species that is used for both food and industrial purposes. Its fruit is an important source of edible oil, known as palm oil. It is used in cooking and as a raw material for many consumer products, such as margarine and soaps. It also has several industrial uses, including biodiesel production and oleochemical applications. It is an important economic crop and the world’s most valuable vegetable oil.
The palm tree has a wide distribution and is cultivated in many countries around the world, including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and Brazil. The plant is a pioneer forest species, and its natural habitat is tropical dry forests with shallow lateritic soils, peat, or very sandy soils, and rocky terrain. Its wide adaptation may be due to its ability to withstand harsh conditions, such as drought, steep terrain, and low rainfall.
Despite its widespread use, the palm plant is still vulnerable to disease and insect pests. It is susceptible to both fungal diseases and insect pests, especially nematodes. Nematodes are microscopic roundworms that can cause significant damage to the plants. These parasites also transmit pathogens that cause diseases. Several methods of controlling the spread of nematodes and nematode infection in the palm plant have been developed.
While considerable attention is paid to the mesocarp oil of Eg and Eo palms, kernel oil from interspecific hybrids has received less focus. The fatty acid composition of kernel oil from Eo x Eg interspecific hybrids closely resembles the FA composition of their Eg relative. The highest proportion of unsaturated fatty acids are oleic and linoleic. These fatty acids are acylated at position sn-2 of the glycerol backbone. Additionally, kernel oil from hybrids contains a high level of tocotrienols and sterols.
In the early days of oil palm breeding, the first cultivars were bred by crossing different species to achieve desired phenotypes. These include the Deli and AVROS pisifera hybrids, which have been popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, and Costa Rica. In recent years, the Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) has been developing interspecific hybrids with superior fresh fruit bunch and crude palm oil production. Among these are the Aba, Ufuma, and Calabar varieties, which have higher bunch yields than their predecessors and resistance to wilt.
Elaeis dubius
Palm oil is the world’s second largest-used vegetable oil. It’s used in everything from instant noodles to ice cream and air fresheners. But while it’s a huge part of our daily lives, it also comes at a terrible cost to the planet’s forests. The good news is, it’s possible to produce palm oil sustainably – and here’s how.
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is an African tree that is widely cultivated in tropical regions as a source of vegetable oil. Its fruit, which contains both palm oil and palm kernel oil, is used to make many products, including soaps, cosmetics, candles, biofuels, lubricating greases, and coatings for tinplate. Its seed is also a popular livestock feed. The plant grows in the wild in West and Central Africa, as well as Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is a major source of income for local populations. The oil palm is a very durable and versatile crop that can be grown in a wide range of soils. It thrives in warm, tropical conditions and is tolerant to drought and frost. It is resistant to diseases and insect infestations, but it is susceptible to root rot and crown rot.
In the field, it produces fruits in a cluster known as a bunch and can reach heights of up to 20 meters. Its fruits are oval and have a thin skin, which makes them easy to process and transport. They can be harvested by hand or mechanically, and the mesocarp is separated from the nut to extract the oil. Oil is extracted from both the pulp and kernel for use in various food and cosmetics, while the cake residue is used to manufacture animal feed.
Pressed sap from the trunks of the palm tree contains a high amount of sugar, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. This makes it an ideal cultivation medium for microorganisms that produce lactic acid and other industrial products. Using this method, farmers can significantly increase their income and improve the quality of their crops.
The fatty acids in the palm oil can be separated into olein and stearin fractions, which have different physicochemical properties and are suitable for different applications. The stearin fraction has an iodine value of 51-53 and is liquid at room temperature, making it suitable for frying. The olein fraction has an IV of 52-56 and is suitable for other uses, such as cosmetics. Palm oil also contains high amounts of phytosterols, such as sitosterol and campesterol, which have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels. It is also rich in antioxidants, such as a-tocopherol and d-tocotrienols.
Elaeis erythraea
Palms are a distinctive group within the monocotyledonous flowering plants. They are the fourth largest family of plants, with over 2,400 species in 189 genera. They are primarily found in the tropics, where they form a dominant part of the vegetation. The most common species are the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). Other important members include the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera), sugar cane (Eucalyptus globulus), and betel nut palm (Areca catechu).
Palm trees are single-stemmed and can reach heights of 20 meters. They have pinnate leaves that are composed of numerous leaflets. Mature palms produce small flowers that form on branched inflorescences. These flowers are followed by reddish fruits that grow in bunches. The fruit contains an oily outer layer, known as the pericarp, and a single seed, which is rich in oil.
The plant is an economic mainstay in the tropics, and is considered one of the most efficient oil-bearing crops. It can yield more oil per hectare than other oil crops. It is also more nutritious than other edible oils, with a balanced fatty acid composition and high levels of vitamin A and E. It is therefore a good source of energy, and is used in a wide range of food applications.
Despite their great importance, species of palm oil have been difficult to study, as their large size and extreme hardiness deterred early collectors. This led Liberty Hyde Bailey, an eminent American horticulturist in the early 20th century, to refer to them as the “big game of the botanical world.” Only with increased air travel into remote tropical areas did palms gain wider recognition.
In addition to their commercial uses, species of palm oil have many local uses. They provide food, construction materials, and stimulants, such as the nut of the betel nut palm (Arecacatechu). Other species in the genus Ceroxylon are used for timber and buttons, while Phytelephas and other spermatophytes produce a range of waxes.
The cultivation of the oil palm has significant environmental implications. It involves widespread deforestation and land conversion, which can lead to biodiversity loss. Moreover, the drainage of peat bogs for oil palm plantations releases significant quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, sustainable practices and certifications are being introduced to mitigate these problems.
Propagation of Palm Oil
The worldwide demand for palm oil has lifted incomes in developing countries, but at the price of environmental devastation and loss of habitat for species like orangutans. We need a sustainable solution.
Conventional breeding is the process of acquiring hybrid new varieties with desirable traits through the crossing of two well-characterized parents. The resulting commercial hybrids have high within-hybrid genetic variability.
Tissue Culture
In the cultivation of perennial crops, vegetative propagation through suckers or cuttings is commonly adopted. However, in the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), the architecture of the plant which lacks axillary shoots does not allow for such propagation methods. Tissue culture offers a method to overcome this obstacle and produce uniform planting materials for genetic improvement of the crop.
This can be done by indirect somatic embryogenesis, in which the callus of an explant is induced to differentiate into somatic embryos (SE) and eventually regenerate into a fully matured plant. However, despite considerable progress in the field of oil palm tissue culture, the low efficiencies of this process imposes limits to its use as a propagation technique.
One of the most important factors limiting oil palm SE is the limited availability of explants that can be converted to SEs. This is caused by the high number of embryogenic structures that arise from the proliferation of explants. The presence of these embryogenic structures also increases the risk for somaclonal variation, resulting in clones that are prone to floral abnormalities (mantled flowers) and have lower yields than those of their parent plants.
To reduce the problem of somaclonal variation, a series of interventions have been introduced to oil palm tissue culture. For instance, the use of suspension cultures instead of semi-solid media has been shown to increase the number of SEs regenerated from proliferating callus. Moreover, the addition of 2,4-D to the medium has been shown to promote the differentiation of callus into SEs.
Another useful intervention is the application of heat pretreatment to reduce the number of recalcitrant SEs. The addition of this treatment has been shown to increase the yield of micropropagated clones by up to 20%.
Finally, the use of alternative explant types could limit the occurrence of mantled SEs and thus improve micropropagation efficiencies. Additionally, the identification of a DNA sequence whose degree of methylation correlates with the embryogenesis rate of ortets could serve as an early marker for somaclonal variation and enable the early detection of recalcitrant calli and their rejection during biopropagation.
Genetic Transformation
Genetic transformation is an important tool for introducing novel traits into species of palm oil, and has recently become a key technology in its improvement. The use of this technique reduces the time and effort required for the production of new planting material, and enables the genetic modification of oil palm with desired characteristics. In addition to enhancing yield, this method also allows for the propagation of disease-resistant varieties. However, there are several challenges that must be overcome before genetic transformation can be used in a commercial environment.
In vitro propagation of plants is essential for the development of high-yielding oil palms, and several methods have been developed to facilitate this process. These techniques are used to infuse clones of the parent plant with foreign DNA, which can then be used for further generations. This approach is especially useful for perennial crops, such as oil palm, which are difficult to grow from seeds.
Embryogenic tissue culture is an efficient way to produce transgenic plants, and the process can be improved by using different plasmids, promoters, and vectors. The most commonly used marker genes are those encoding hpt, pat, or bar (Phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), which are used to select Agrobacterium-transformed cells. The expression of these genes is controlled by constitutive promoters such as the 35S cauliflower mosic virus or ubiquitin.
The genetics of oil palm is complex, with a large number of monogenic hereditary traits, including fruit color, shell thickness, and oil content. Molecular markers can help to simplify the identification of these hereditary traits, and can be used for linkage mapping and association analysis. For example, RAPD and AFLP markers have been used to isolate genes that affect the occurrence of certain traits in oil palm.
Moreover, genomic selection has been proven to be an effective method for improving quantitative traits in oil palm. It can be used to identify heritable QTLs and optimize breeding programs based on their effects on the target phenotype. In addition, it can also reduce the cost of generating F1 hybrids and increase the efficiency of the selection process. In this way, genomic selection can be used to improve the productivity of oil palms and other important tropical crops.
Breeding
In conventional breeding, a new cultivar is developed by crossing the desired parent plants and selecting progeny with desirable characteristics. The progeny are then selected for propagation, which is accomplished through either seed germination or vegetative cuttings. A combination of different genetic traits is usually needed for a superior oil palm variety. The emergence of climate change, however, will require a more holistic approach to plant improvement in order to meet the challenge. This will involve improved knowledge of how increased atmospheric CO2 and warmer temperatures will affect the chemical and physical properties of soils – with a resulting change in nutrient availability. The effects of climate change will also be studied in the field, through high-throughput phenotyping of the plant under biotic and abiotic stress conditions.
This will require a multidisciplinary approach, combining expertise from several branches of life sciences, including plant genetics and molecular biology, plant physiology, and soil ecology. The development of the next generation of oil palm varieties will require improved techniques for transferring genetic variation between plants, and better understanding of how these genes respond to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Currently, the most widely used method of propagating oil palm is indirect somatic embryogenesis (SE), a process in which somatic cells from an explant of choice are induced to differentiate into somatic embryos via an intermediate phase of callus growth. Using SE, cultivars with desired fruit qualities can be reproduced without the need for a plantlet to be self-pollinated.
The main challenges of using SE for mass cultivation are limited explant availability, slow SE initiation and regeneration rates, and the high risk of somaclonal variation. However, research is underway to improve these processes and develop a protocol that will allow for the mass production of planting material.
Considering the short life cycle of the palm, it is important to find ways to increase its production, thereby increasing oil yields and profitability. The most promising methods are clonal propagation and genetic engineering. Clonal propagation allows for the rapid duplication of highly productive palms, which cannot be achieved through conventional breeding due to the long reproduction cycle and strong inbreeding depression of oil palm. Genetic engineering enables the introduction of novel traits, such as dwarfing phenotypes, into oil palm plants.
Biotechnology
The development of genetically engineered palm trees is an important step to enhance yields. This technology is the only way to produce trees with a high oleic acid content, which is essential for industrial oil production. The goal is to raise yields on existing plantations and reduce the need for further expansion of cultivated land, which is often associated with negative environmental impacts. Numerous techniques for transferring genes into plants have been developed and ongoing efforts are made to improve their efficiency.
Biotechnology is also useful as a tool for genetically improving oil palms by identifying native traits and cloning high-yielding varieties. It can help accelerate the breeding process, which normally takes 10 years or more, and improve the quality of fruit and disease resistance. In addition, it can increase the yield of a palm tree by increasing the number of embryos produced per cycle.
However, the current indirect SE protocol is associated with several limitations. The limited availability of immature leaf explants and the low SE initiation and regeneration rates necessitate proliferation of embryogenic structures, thereby increasing the risk for somaclonal variation (mantled phenotype). In addition, the extensive use of PGRs in the propagation medium inhibits SE germination.
To address these limitations, some research directions are under investigation to develop an efficient micropropagation method for oil palm. These include the use of alternative explants and propagation methods, proliferation treatments, and detection of the mantled phenotype. The optimisation of the cultivation media also remains a challenge. The most commonly used medium is a full-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, although other formulations such as the Y3 or N6 media have been shown to be suitable for oil palm tissue culture.
A number of different methods have been used to introduce foreign genes into oil palm cells, including particle bombardment and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Both methods require optimized physical parameters and the use of appropriate selectable markers and promoters. Recently, a unique transformation method was developed for oil palm protoplasts that allows DNA to be introduced more effectively and efficiently than in conventional methods.
Mass production of selected, high-yielding palms using this technique could reduce the need for further expansion of cultivated area. In addition, it can increase the yields of existing plantations and improve the quality of oil. This will contribute to the global goal of achieving a 10% increase in the production of palm oil by 2050.
