Abstract
The paper aims to study the position of the optimum oil palm ripeness at the bunch different positions. This information is essential to complete a measurement procedure to detect oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) maturity so that the detection devices can directly measure the optimal mature position as a representative of the entire FFB characteristics. In this study, the oil palm FFB (Elaeis guineensis Jacq. var. tenera) with the various ripeness stages (4 until 22 weeks after anthesis) were collected and divided from three positions, i.e., proximal, central and distal. Moreover, each fruit in each of these positions was subjected to sample preparation to identify water and oil content. The water and oil content were completed based on the oven test method and the Soxhlet extraction technique, respectively. The optimum ripeness position is determined based on the lowest water content and the highest oil content. Based on the analysis, during the process of oil palm maturation occurs a decrease in water content and an increase in oil content. In addition, the average water content of palm fruit varies greatly depending on its position based on the analysis, i.e., proximal (45.38±5.62%), central (35.30±3.34%) and distal (41.98±2.57%). The average oil content of oil palm fruit in the central position is higher oil content (25.10±1.72%) compared to the proximal (10.00±0.77%) and distal position (13.77±1.22%). We suspect that the chemical content differences of palm fruit in various positions are due to the inequality of the respiration rate and ethylene production throughout FFB. In addition, overall it can be concluded that the fruit in the central FFB position has an optimal ripeness level compared to the proximal and distal position. Thus, the measurement position recommended in evaluating palm maturity is at the central position of FFB.
Highlights
Indonesia is the largest country in the production and export of oil palm products, which is more wellknown as crude palm oil (CPO) (Makky and Soni 2013a, 2013b, 2014, Cherie et al 2015, Makky 2016, Makky et al 2018, Cherie et al 2019)
During the process of oil palm maturation occurs a decrease in water content and an increase in oil content (Figure 2)
This work revealed the critical information regarding the optimum position of ripe fruit at various positions in fresh fruit bunches (FFB)
Summary
Indonesia is the largest country in the production and export of oil palm products, which is more wellknown as crude palm oil (CPO) (Makky and Soni 2013a, 2013b, 2014, Cherie et al 2015, Makky 2016, Makky et al 2018, Cherie et al 2019). RYHU WKH SDVW GHFDGH WKH LGHQWL¿FDWLRQ RI WKH maturity level of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is still a major unresolved issue in the palm oil industry (Saeed et al 2013). The FFB maturity level is divided into three categories, namely unripe, ripe and overripe (Saeed et al 2012, Makky et al 2014c). The maximum oil yield is found only when the fruit is about to be detached from the bunch This maturity evaluation has weaknesses such as subjective and qualitative judgment which leads to inconsistency of measurement. This problem attracted the attention of researchers to develop accurate techniques in evaluating the maturity level of oil palm. Some proposed techniques involved oil content measurement, inductive and image processing (Saeed et al 2012, Makky and Soni 2014, Misron et al 2017, Salambue et al 2018)
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