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

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.