|
|
 |
 |
| |
 Printable version |
Advantages of improved commercial palm oil (Elaeis guinensis Jacq.) seeds |
Oléagineux, Corps Gras, Lipides. Volume 8, Number 6, 654-8, Novembre - Décembre 2001, Dossier : L'avenir des cultures pérennes
|
 Résumé
Article gratuit
|
Author(s) : Benoît COCHARD, Benjamin ADON, Roger KOUAME KOUAME, Tristan DURAND-GASSELIN, Philippe AMBLARD |
Summary : Breeders market oil palm seeds that are intended to provide users with high-yielding, quality planting material. They alone can spare growers some cruel disappointments. Given particular biological and genetic characteristics, they are able to overcome problems associated with the heredity of shell thickness and with inbreeding depression, and to take advantage of heterosis in their varietal creation and propose seeds tolerant of diseases, etc.
Compared to "unselected" seeds, marketed seeds produce 2 1/2 times more, simply by taking into account the heredity of shell thickness and inbreeding depression. Moreover, breeders have regularly increased the productivity of their materials. Under conditions in Côte d'Ivoire, yields have increased from 2 to 3.6 tons of oil per hectare per year in the last 40 years. Breeders are also attempting to find solutions to diseases (vascular wilt, Ganoderma) which destroy up to 50% of plantings. For instance, in the case of vascular wilt in Africa, the impact of the disease has been considerably reduced (to 1%). Lastly, reducing vertical growth facilitates harvesting or the decision to replant.
Only seeds marketed by breeders can secure the initial investment involved in setting up or renewing an oil palm plantation. |
Keywords : palm oil, breeding, seed production. |
|
