<div style="text-align: justify;">Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) has become the largest traded vegetable oil in the world due to its innumerable uses and its huge economic importance. Which increases the requirement of quality seedling but the conventional seed production limits the commercial seed production with its long germination period and low germination rate. In this context in vitro germination of zygotic embryo could be a promising alternative. Hence in this study the effect of culturing media, plant growth regulators and genotypes were assessed on in vitro regeneration and plantlet development of oil palm zygotic embryos. Zygotic embryos of four elite genotypes were cultured on MS, N6 and Y3 media, with or without plant growth regulators (NAA, BA&amp; GA3-0.2mg/lt). There was no effect of culture media, plant growth regulators and genotypes on germination of zygotic embryos. Whereas on the growth and development of in vitro plantlets, there was a significant effect of culture media and genotypes. Where culture media N6 performs well and Y3 has shown more abnormality. In case of genotypes, genotypes G1 and G2 shown better performance when compared to genotypes G3 and G4. The effect of plant growth regulators on germination and plant growth was non significant.</div>

Effect of culture media, plant growth regulators and genotypes on growth and developmental stages of oil palm (<em>Elaeis guineensis Jacq</em>.) zygotic embryos

<p>The oil palm is the richest source of vegetable oil in the world. The hybrid nature of crop necessitates artificial hybridization between proven parent palms which in turn require the pollen from male parent to be collected and stored without loss of viability for sufficiently long period. Reports &nbsp; suggested that pollen grains of various taxa could be successfully preserved in different organic solvents. In the present study, attempt was made to &nbsp; evaluate the suitability &nbsp;of organic solvents to store the oil palm pollen at 0 to -5oC temperature. Among the five solvents used, there was significant variation for viability and germination percentages. Viability was the maximum for pollen stored in Diethyl ether (90.45 %) as well as in n-Hexane (88.41%) after 200 days of storage. &nbsp;Viability of pollen stored in Chloroform and Acetone were moderate and in case of Methyl alcohol, complete loss of viability was observed. With respect to pollen germination in vitro, similar trend was observed. The trend was same at different intervals/period of storage. This was confirmed through in vivo pollination and fruits set studies. Thus, present method indicated that it is feasible to store oil palm pollen in non polar solvents beyond 200 days without considerable loss of viability or germination.</p>


<p>Efficacy of organic solvents for medium term storage of oil palm&nbsp;(Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) pollen</p>


<div>Oil palm trees can be identified according to fruit traits into dura, pisifera and tenera types. DNA markers associated with shell thickness can be used to identify fruit traits at the seedling stage of an oil palm. The purpose of this study was to discover fruit morphology and SSR markers for identifying dura, pisifera and tenera oil palms. The results show that the tenera had a ring of fibers enclosing the kernel, but the dura had no such ring of fibers. The tenera had thicker shell and more mesocarp per fruit than the dura. The markers, MF233033 and MF233056, were found to distinguish between the pisifera and dura or tenera types. But they were found to not clearly distinguish between the dura and tenera types. These results suggest that fruit morphology can be used for identification of fruit traits of oil palm better than these SSR markers.</div>


<div>Identifying F2 Oil Palm (<em>Elaeis guineensis</em> Jacq.) Trees for Their Dura, Pisifera and Tenera Types using Fruit Morphology and SSR Markers</div>


Effect of culture media, plant growth regulators and genotypes on growth and developmental stages of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) zygotic embryos

Efficacy of organic solvents for medium term storage of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) pollen

Identifying F2 Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Trees for Their Dura, Pisifera and Tenera Types using Fruit Morphology and SSR Markers