SSR MARKERS FACILITATE TESTING OF GENETIC PURITY AND PREDICTION OF BIOLOGICAL PARENTS FOR BREEDING CROSSES OF OIL PALM
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2025.0042
Received: 17 October 2024 Accepted: 26 May 2025; Published Online: 19 August 2025
The genetic purity of a controlled cross is essential for achieving the objectives of a breeding program for any crop. This study evaluated SSR markers for assessing the legitimacy of two oil palm interspecific BC1 x BC1 populations, namely, Populations 9 and 10. A total of 40 primer-pairs were screened, resulting in the identification of 19 and 20 informative markers for Populations 9 and 10, respectively. The markers revealed sufficient genetic variation in allele frequency, heterozygosity and polymorphic information content in both populations. The phylogenetic trees revealed three and 32 outliers in Populations 9 and 10, respectively. In addition, the palms originally recorded as parents to the crosses had numerous loci that were mismatched with the non-outlier offspring. We reconstructed the expected genotypes of the real parents based on the segregation profiles observed among the legitimate offspring in the two families, resulting in 100% parent-offspring assignment. This study discusses how the SSR genotypes of palms were examined to detect outliers and to predict the genotypes of the true parents in these interspecific hybrids, the first such report for oil palm. The information will be useful for various controlled crosses of oil palm interspecific hybrids and other outcrossing plant species.
KEYWORDS:1 Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
2 United Plantation Berhad, Jendarata Estate,
36009 Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia.
3 Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Bandar Baru Nilai,
71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
* Corresponding author e-mail: norhalida@mpob.gov.my