Current Status of Oil Palm

Planting Materials in the World

and Future Challenges
Kushairi A., and Rajanaidu, N.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board
 Introduction
• High demand for planting materials, 2007-08
• Seed production increased in last 10 years,
– e.g. Indonesian seed producers doubled with
est. production 60 mil (1996) to 125 mil (2008)
• Besides conventional DxP seeds, additional
planting materials are Clones and Clonal
Seeds
• Palm oil as feedstock for biofuel has firmed
up price of the commodity: positive impact
on OP cultivation
 Presentation Outline

 Introduction
• Oil palm industry
• Production of planting materials
• Indicative prices of planting materials
• Breeding populations, pedigree, performance
• Future challenges
• Conclusion
 Indonesia
Oil palm industry #1 producer
since 2006
World Major Producers of Palm Oil, 1999 – 2008 ('000 tonnes)
Country 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1 Indonesia 6,250 7,050 8,080 9,370 10,600 12,380 14,100 16,050 17,270 19,330
2 Malaysia 10,554 10,842 11,804 11,909 13,355 13,976 14,962 15,881 15,824 17,734
3 Thailand 560 525 625 600 690 735 700 860 1,020 1,170
4 Nigeria 720 740 770 775 785 790 800 815 835 860
5 Colombia 500 524 548 528 527 632 661 713 732 800
6 Ecuador 263 218 228 238 262 279 319 352 396 415
7 PNG 264 336 329 316 326 345 310 365 384 400
8 Cote d'Ivoire 264 278 205 265 240 270 320 330 320 330
9 Honduras 90 101 130 126 158 170 180 195 220 268
10 Brazil 92 108 110 118 129 142 160 170 190 220
11 Costa Rica 122 137 150 128 155 180 210 198 200 202
12 Guatemala 53 65 70 86 85 87 92 125 130 139
13 Vanezuela 60 70 52 55 41 61 63 65 70 56
Others 833 873 883 895 906 940 969 1,023 1,083 1,194
TOTAL 20,625 21,867 23,984 25,409 28,259 30,987 33,846 37,142 38,674 43,118
MPOB (2009). http://mpob.gov.my
Sources: Oil World Annual (1999 – 2008) & Oil World Weekly (12 December, 2008). MPOB – data on Malaysia
Malaysia 2008 Performance

 OP area = 4.48 mil ha

 FFB = 20.18 t/ha
 OER = 20.21%
 Oil yield = 4.08 t/ha
 CPO = 17.73 mil tonnes
 Revenue= RM 65.2 billion
(USD 18.5 bil)
 Presentation Outline
 Introduction
 Oil palm industry
• Production of planting materials
1) DxP
2) Clones
3) Clonal Seeds
4) Interspecific Hybrid Planting Materials
• Indicative prices of planting materials
• Breeding populations, pedigree, performance
• Future challenges
• Conclusion
 Declaration
 The production and prices of planting materials
mentioned are only estimates and indicative
 Due to commercial and other implications, interested
parties are advised to clarify with the respective
companies/ authorities
 The authors tried the very best to make the information
as accurate as possible, however, we wish to
apologize for errors, if any, which is unintentional
 We stand to be corrected and welcome comments to
make the paper more meaningful
 Please e-mail comments to kushairi@mpob.gov.my
 Dura x Pisifera (DxP)
Seed Production

• Largely based on Deli dura

– Chemara, Banting, DOA/MARDI/MPOB,
Dami, Socfindo, Dabou
• Main sources of pisifera
– AVROS, NIFOR (Calabar), Ekona,
Yangambi, La Me
 DxP Seed Production

Indonesia
In 1995 only 3 major seed producers, estimated 61 mil seeds
Estimated DxP seed production in Indonesia, 2008
Company Million seeds/year
1. Socfindo 20
2. Sampoerna Agro 15
3. IOPRI 35
4. Lonsum 15
5. Asian Agri 10
6. PT Smart (Dami Mas) 10
7. Tania Selatan 5
8. SEU (Bakrie Tani Nusantara) 5
9. Bakrie (ASD) 10
Total 125
 DxP Seed Production

Malaysia
• 1995: 50 million
• 2007: 65 million
• 2008: 88 million
• The number of seed producers
remained consistent over the years
 DxP Seed Production

Malaysia
Average DxP seed production estimates in Malaysia, 1995-2008
Company Million seeds/year
Felda 17
Sime Darby (inc. Guthrie/HRU, GHope) 26
United Plantations Berhad 10
IOI 6
Borneo Samudera 5
SEU 2
RISDA 1
IJMP, Sabah 1
SPAD, Sarawak 1
MPOB 0.5
Total ca.80
(range 50 – 88)
 DxP Seed Production

Other Asian Countries

DxP seed production estimates, 2008
Country Million seeds/year
Papua New Guinea 30
Thailand – Univanich 8
– Department of Agriculture 5
India 2
Total 45
 DxP Seed Production

Central-South America
• Costa Rica is a major oil palm seed
producer in the world
• CIRAD has developed a network in
Central-South America
• It is expected that a significant amount of
CIRAD seed production in Latin America
 DxP Seed Production

Central-South America
DxP seed production estimates in
Central-South America, 2008
Company Million seeds/year
ASD Costa Rica 30
Gene Palm Honduras 2
Murgas & Lowe, Colombia 2
La Cabána (CIRAD resale) 1.5
INIAP, Ecuador 2
Embrapa, Brazil 1
Total 38.5
ASD Costa Rica
 DxP Seed Production

Africa
• Major oil palm seed producers in Africa
are CIRAD and its partners in Ivory
Coast (CNRA), Cameroon (IRAD,
SOCFINCO) and INRAB in Benin, OPRI
in Ghana, NIFOR in Nigeria and
Unipalma in the DRCongo and Ghana
 DxP Seed Production

Africa
DxP seed production estimates in Africa, 2008
Country Million seeds/year
Benin 6
Nigeria 2
Cameroon – La Dibamba 1
– Pamol 1
Ghana 2
DR Congo, Unipalma 3
Ivory Coast, CNRA 10
Total 25
 Oil Palm Clones

World Production estimates

Country Million ramets/year
Malaysia 2
Costa Rica 0.5
Indonesia 0.5
Total 3
 Oil Palm Clones

Malaysian Scenario
• 11 oil palm tissue culture laboratories
– 2008: production ca. 2 mil ramets
– 2010: expected to grow to 5 mil ramets
– 2017: projected requirements ca. 40 mil ramets
• AAR and Felda to produce ca. 1 mil each
– Productions expected to increase to 2 mil each
in next 3-5 years
– Mean oil yield of AAR clones is 7.5 t/ha/yr
 Clonal Seeds

• Dura and/or pisifera palms are cloned as

parents
• Selection of parents for cloning is based
on specific combining ability (SCA)
• Bi-clonal seeds are produced when both
parents are clones
• Semi-clonal seeds are produced when
one parent is a clone
 Clonal Seeds
Advantages
• Clonal seeds more uniform than conventional DxP
because the crossings are confined to a limited
number of parental combinations
• Cost of seed production much lower than TC
plantlets
• Low risk of clonal abnormality because of limited
plantlets production from each parent
• Require a small TC set up to clone the parents and
the number of plantlets production per ortet are
limited
• Oil yield gain of 15% is expected compared to
conventional DxP hybrid seeds
 Clonal Seeds

• United Plantations Berhad (UPB) in

Malaysia is the pioneer company in the
world to produce bi-clonal seeds
• UPB estimated production is 1mil/year
• Oil yields of UPB semi- and bi-clonal
DxP ranged from 7.95 – 9.52 t/ha/yr
 Interspecific Hybrid Seeds
E. oleifera x E. guineensis (OxG)
• Characteristics
– somewhat tolerant to spear rot
– short and compact
– more liquid oil
• OxG hybrids based on Taisha (Ecuador)
E. oleifera is expected to produce high oil
yields, close to that of the DxP
 Interspecific Hybrid Seeds
E. oleifera x E. guineensis (OxG)

World Production estimates

Country Million seeds/year

Ecuador – CIRAD partner 1

Colombia – La Cabańa 0.3

– Indupalma 0.2

Brazil – Embrapa 1

Total 2.5
 Oil Palm Planting Materials
Summary
World Production estimates, 2008
Type Million/year
DxP 315
Clones 3.0
Bi-clones/Semi-clones 1.0
Interspecific hybrids 2.5
Total 321.5
 Presentation Outline

 Introduction
 Oil palm industry
 Production of planting materials
• Indicative prices of planting materials
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• Breeding populations, pedigree, performance
• Future challenges
• Conclusion
Indicative Prices of Planting Materials
Malaysia

• DxP = RM 1.10 – RM 2.20 per seed

• Clones = RM 30 – RM 40 per ramet
• Clonal seeds = RM 1.80 per seed (or higher?)

Note: USD1 = ca. RM 3.50

Indicative Prices of Planting Materials
Indonesia
Companies Price per DxP germinated seed
1) Lonsum = USD 1.2
2) IOPRI = Rp 6000 – 6500
3) Socfindo = Rp 9500
4) Asian Agri = Rp 8000
5) Dami Mas = Rp 9000
6) Sampoerna Agro = Rp 9000
7) AAA (Topaz) = Rp 8000
8) SEU = Rp 6500
9) Bakrie = USD 0.92
Note: USD1 = ca. Rp 9000
 Presentation Outline

 Introduction
 Oil palm industry
 Production of planting materials
 Indicative prices of planting materials
• Breeding populations, pedigree,
performance
A) DxP – CIRAD, Felda, ASD Costa Rica
B) Clonal planting materials
C) Interspecific hybrids
• Future challenges
• Conclusion
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
CIRAD
• Uses RRS to improve the parents, evaluate
their combining abilities and a recombination
phase to create variability for the next cycle

Deli dura (Group A) Pisifera (Group B)

• Socfindo Deli • La Me
• Socfin Deli (Malaysia) • NIFOR
• Dabou Deli • Yangambi
• Deli x Angola • Sibiti
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
CIRAD
Experimental Commercial DxP
• LM404D (Group A) or • FFB: 30 to 32 t/ha/yr in
LM10T (Group B) suitable climates
– contribute to OER • CPO: 26-28% at mills
• DA10D (Group A) or • Limited vertical growth
LM2T (Group B) • Vascular wilt resistant
– good FFB production material available
• PO4982P (LM5T x LM10T) • Yield levels less affected by
– both good OER & FFB water stress
• OY potential 7-8 t/ha/yr • Oil with high olein content
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
IOPRI-CIRAD collaboration
• Cross: DA115D self x LM718 self
– FFB = 204.7 kg/palm/yr
– CPO = 6.55 t/ha/yr
– Bunch number = 9.28 bunches/palm/yr
– Average bunch weight = 22.76 kg
– OER = 27.52%
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
Felda
Dura DxP
• MPOB provided Felda • progenies DQ10,
with Nigerian Prospected DQ69 and DQ34 of
Materials (NPM) the 3-way cross
• Deli dura x NPM dura Deli-NPM x Ybi
– Good FFB – OY 7.70 – 8.51 t/ha/yr
– O/B 19.4 – 23.8% – TEP 8.35 – 9.34 t/ha/yr
– IV 54.1 – 57.3
– Ht inc 0.38 – 0.46 m/yr
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
ASD Costa Rica and Its Partners
Deli duras sources Pisifera sources
• Malaysia • AVROS H&C Banting
• Chemara • AVROS Dami
• H&C Banting • Ekona
• Socfin • Ghana
• MARDI • Nigeria
• PNG (Dami) • La Me
• Costa Rica (Coto) • Yangambi
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
A) DxP
ASD Costa Rica and Its Partners
• ASD progeny tests in Indonesia
– About 440 DxP progenies
– 223 Deli duras tested with 50 pisiferas
– Connected mating design
• General combining ability (GCA)
– Deli dura: Dami & Chemara high GCA
– Pisifera: Nigerian Calabar &Ghana high GCA
• DxP: Deli x Nigerian & Deli x Ghana
– Oil yield potential >9 t/ha/yr
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
B) Clonal Planting Materials
• Global production ca. 3 million ramets
• Malaysia ca. 2 million ramets
 2015 – expected 5 million
 2017 – needs 40 million
 Thus, not enough ramets
 DxP and clonal seeds will continue
to be important sources of planting materials
• AAR, Malaysia
– Planted >20 clonal trial with >200ha
and >8000ha commercial test plantings
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
B) Clonal Planting Materials
• Current cloning method is not sustainable
– High cost of production
– Abnormality is unpredictable
– No specific molecular markers to weed out
abnormal palms at the seedling stage
• TC technology could be harnessed to multiply
elite dura to produce clonal seeds
– Since only limited number of plantlets are
produced per dura ortet, the level of abnormality
can be kept to the minimum
– If a particular dura clone were abnormal, it can be
discarded from clonal seed production programme
Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
C) Interspecific Hybrids
United Plantations Berhad, Malaysia
• Backcross programme:
– High IV F1 OG x high IV E. guineensis
• Promising backcross families:
– FFB up to 35 t/ha/yr in 2nd year of harvest
– O/B up to 32%
– Oil yield potential >10 t/ha/yr
– Iodine value up to 68
• Selection of ortets from these backcross
progenies aimed at high yield, high IV,
short and compact palms
 Breeding Populations, Pedigree, Performance
C) Interspecific Hybrids

ASD Costa Rica

• Developed compact clones and seed progenies

with 6.25% E. oleifera blood
• Amenable to high density planting of 200 palms/ha
compared to conventional 136-160 palms/ha
• Yield potential being verified in different parts of the
world
 Presentation Outline

 Introduction
 Oil palm industry
 Production of planting materials
 Indicative prices of planting materials
 Breeding populations, pedigree, performance
• Future challenges
• Conclusion
 Future Challenges
Yield Gap
• Malaysian national palm oil yield has been
stagnating at around 3.5 – 3.8 t/ha/yr for 20 years
(Note: 2008 Oil yield: 4.08 t/ha)

• Reasons for stagnating yield, e.g.

– Slow replanting rate
– Below-par estate management practices in some estates
– Spreading of oil palm cultivations into marginal areas
• However, well managed estates in Malaysia
realized oil yields of 6 – 7 t/ha/yr
 Future Challenges
Breeding for Specialty Oils and Products
• Oil yield remains the prime objective
• Specialty oils and products cater various
consumers needs in niche markets
• To date, MPOB has developed 13
breeding populations, PS1 to PS13 with
specialty oils and products
 Future Challenges
Breeding for Specialty Oils and Products
Breeding Pop. Specialty Traits MPOB PS series Current DxP
• PS1 Dwarf palm
• PS1.1 (height increments) 40cm/yr 50 – 75cm/yr
• PS2 High Iodine value 56 52
• PS3 Large kernel (K/F) 10-15% 5-7%
• PS4 High carotene E. oleifera > 3,000ppm 500 – 700ppm
• PS5 Thin shell tenera (S/F) 2.80 – 7.40% >10%
• PS6 Large fruit dura (weight) 24g – 34g 10g
• PS7 High bunch index 0.6 0.3
• PS8 High vitamin E 1,300 – 2,500ppm 600 – 1000ppm
• PS9 Bactris gasipaes Not oil palm
• PS10 Long stalk 20 – 30cm 10-15cm
• PS11 High carotene E. guineensis 2000 – 2474ppm 500 – 700ppm
• PS12 High oleic 48 – 52.5% 37 – 40%
• PS13 Low lipase (FFA cold activation) 1 – 10% 22 – 73%
 Future Challenges
Breeding for Specialty Oils and Products

IV 52

PS3 Large kernel

Carotene Carotene
PS1 and PS1.1 Dwarf palm Extracts capsules
Current DxP PS2
PS2 Iodine value PS4 and PS11 Carotene

PS5 Thin shell tenera

PS6 Large fruit dura PS10 Long stalk
 Future Challenges
Breeding for Specialty Oils and Products
Quality of Life Selected Traits Remarks
measures (All pop. are high yielding)
• High yield
• Large kernel
Productivity
• Large fruit High income
(Wealth)
• Thin shell
• High bunch index
• Dwarf palm
Working Life Ease of harvesting
• Long stalk
• High iodine value
• High carotene
Health • High vitamin E Niche markets
• High oleic acid
• Low lipase
• Dwarf palm • Delayed replanting
Environment
• High productivity • Less land area
 Future Challenges
Supply and Demand
• Demand depends on development of OP industry
• It is important for countries have national strategy
to sustain the OP seed production industry
• Malaysia & Indonesia are main consumers of
planting materials, requiring about 140 mil/year
– Indonesia: 500,000ha new planting
– Malaysia: 200,000ha replanting
• World demand for new plantings and replanting
estimated at 202 million seeds annually
• Current supply (321.5 million) exceeds demand
 Future Challenges
Quality Control

• In Malaysia, it is mandatory to have certificate

and licenses to produce and market of oil palm
planting materials i.e. seeds, clones, seedlings
– Certification from SIRIM for seed production
– License from MPOB for seed production and
marketing of seeds and seedlings
– These are governed by law
• MPOB monitors the quality of oil palm planting
materials produced in the country through field
evaluations once in every five years
 Future Challenges
Illegal Seed Producers

• Seed business is very lucrative

• Attracted illegal seed producers and traders of
illegitimate seeds
• Illegal seed production and trades must be curbed
– In Malaysia, it is the purview of MPOB
(Licenses from MPOB to produce and market OP seeds and seedlings)
• Oil palm industry will suffer in term of productivity if
plantations were planted with illegitimate planting
materials
 Future Challenges
Pest and Diseases

• Oil palm seeds are traded across borders

around the world
• Important to avoid the spread of seed-borne
exotic diseases not present in one region to
another region
• Main OP diseases based on regions
– Ganoderma in South East Asia
– Bud rot in Latin America
– Fusarium in Africa
 Future Challenges
Genetic Base of Parental Materials

• Limited number of breeding lines are used by

seed producers in the world
• Seed production has shifted from public to
private organizations
• Because of commercial implications, limited
exchange of germplasm among seed producers
• The narrow genetic base of breeding material
will impede the progress of oil palm breeding
 Future Challenges
Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD)

• CBD protects the sovereignty of a country

with respect to its genetic resources
• However, CBD could also hampers/delays
progress in breeding and development of
improved planting materials
• Prior Informed Consent (PIC) of CBD has
legal implications and needs to be negotiated,
which could take years before it is agreed by
the parties
 Future Challenges
Plant Variety Protection and Breeders’ Right
• New varieties or process are patented
• While PVP / patents serves commercial interests, it may
also restricts advancements in science due to the high
price the users have to pay for use the technology
• PVP / patents can hinder progress in breeding and
development of varieties with desired traits, examples:
– a patent for oil palm haploid technology is being filed
by a company
– Major palm oil producing countries are in the race to
unleash the oil palm genome, where discoveries are
expected to be patented
International Seminar
on
Oil Palm Genomics
and Its Application to
Oil Palm Breeding

4-5 Nov 2009

mohddin@mpob.gov.my
rnaidu@mpob.gov.my
 Future Challenges
Carbon Footprint

• Carbon footprint has become a major

issue recently especially in relation to
export of palm oil to Europe
• Oil palm breeders have to explore the
production of palm oil with optimum
resources to minimize carbon footprint
 Future Challenges
Human Resources

• A number of experienced oil palm breeders

have retired within a short span of time
• Although the retirees are sometimes
reemployed, there is a lack of new group of
oil palm breeders with post-graduate
qualifications in the job market
• Universities have to revive the plant breeding
courses and train more oil palm breeders
 Presentation Outline

 Introduction
 Oil palm industry
 Production of planting materials
 Indicative prices of planting materials
 Breeding populations, pedigree, performance
 Future challenges
• Conclusion
 Conclusion
• Current status of oil palm planting materials
– Production >300 million
– Demand <200 million
– Thus, excess planting materials in global market
• Existing seed producers plan to expand
production capacity
– But, there is needs to produce more clones
• New seed producers coming into the market
• There should be rationalization of the seed
market by the governments
 Invitation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4-5 Nov 2009 6 Nov 2009 9-12 Nov 2009

International Seminar
on
Oil Palm Genomics
and Its Application to
Oil Palm Breeding

mohddin@mpob.gov.my
rnaidu@mpob.gov.my
Details at: www.mpob.gov.my
Thank You