ARTICLE IN PRESS

IMPROVING OIL PALM BREEDING EFFICIENCY VIA MIXED POLLINATION AND PATERNITY DETERMINATION USING SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISM (SNP) PANEL

ZULKIFLI YAAKUB1*; SUZANA MUSTAFFA1; MARHALIL MARJUNI1; FATIN MOHD NASIR1; WAN NOR SALMIAH TUN MOHD SALIM1; TING NGOOT CHIN1; JAAP BUNTJER2; JARED ORDWAY2 and RAJINDER SINGH1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2025.0026
Received: 13 August 2024   Accepted: 13 February 2025   Published Online: 18 April 2025
ABSTRACT

This study introduces a novel approach in oil palm breeding, where pollen from different sources is mixed and utilised in a single controlled cross, and the seedlings generated are subsequently separated based on their paternal source. Mixes of up to four pollen sources were created and crossed each time with a single dura maternal palm, generating seedlings for fingerprinting analysis. A total of 12 crosses were generated to produce 1,811 progenies (43-415 progeny/cross) from a pool of 16 candidate parental palms. DNA fingerprinting analysis was carried out using 24 and 108 SNP panels. The assignment found that the 108 SNP panel is more effective in tracking genetic lineage and assigning seedlings to their true parental combination. The dominant contribution of certain pollen sources was obvious, suggesting that even though the pollen viability is similar, other factors may also be a contributing factor such as genetic background of pollen source, storage period and the age of pollen-producing palms. Nevertheless, the present approach effectively improves breeding efficiency by reducing the number of individual crosses required, making it cost-effective and importantly minimises the impact of depending on the flower cycle to make the necessary crosses in a breeding programme.

KEYWORDS:


1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

2 Orion Genomics,
Saint Louis, MO 63108 USA.

* Corresponding author e-mail: zulkifly@mpob.gov.my

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