Abstract
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) germplasm is exclusively maintained as ex situ living collections in the field for genetic conservation and evaluation. However, this is not for long term and the maintenance of field genebanks is expensive and challenging. Large area of land is required and the germplasms are exposed to extreme weather conditions and casualty from pests and diseases. By using 107 SSR markers, this study aimed to examine the genetic diversity and relatedness of 186 palms from a Nigerian-based oil palm germplasm and to identify core collection for conservation. On average, 8.67 alleles per SSR locus were scored with average effective number of alleles per population ranging from 1.96 to 3.34 and private alleles were detected in all populations. Mean expected heterozygosity was 0.576 ranging from 0.437 to 0.661 and the Wright’s fixation index calculated was -0.110. Overall moderate genetic differentiation among populations was detected (mean pairwise population FST = 0.120, gene flow Nm = 1.117 and Nei’s genetic distance = 0.466) and this was further confirmed by AMOVA analysis. UPGMA dendogram and Bayesian structure analysis concomitantly clustered the 12 populations into eight genetic groups. The best core collection assembled by Core Hunter ver. 3.2.1 consisted of 58 palms accounting for 31.2% of the original population, which was a smaller core set than using PowerCore 1.0. This core set attained perfect allelic coverage with good representation, high genetic distance between entries, and maintained genetic diversity and structure of the germplasm. This study reported the first molecular characterization and validation of core collections for oil palm field genebank. The established core collection via molecular approach, which captures maximum genetic diversity with minimum redundancy, would allow effective use of genetic resources for introgression and for sustainable oil palm germplasm conservation. The way forward to efficiently conserve the field genebanks into next generation without losing their diversity was further discussed.
Highlights
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the most productive oil crop, accounting for 40% of the global production of vegetable oils, and producing 3–8 times more oil per hectare as compared to other oil crops with planting on only 0.4% of global agricultural land [1]
Seeds from an ancestral “Djongo” palm in Congo were planted in Sumatra, Indonesia by AVROS (Algemeene Vereniging van Rubberplantera ter Oostkust van Sumatra) in 1923 and subsequently gave rise to AVROS pisifera that is widely used as father palm in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Costa Rica [6]
The present study reported simple sequence repeats (SSR) marker-based molecular assessment on genetic diversity and population structure of a Nigerian-based oil palm field genebank in Agriecological Research Sdn. Bhd. (AAR)
Summary
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the most productive oil crop, accounting for 40% of the global production of vegetable oils, and producing 3–8 times more oil per hectare as compared to other oil crops with planting on only 0.4% of global agricultural land [1]. Oil palm with its high productivity and lowest production cost has the potential to meet this increased oil demand with minimum additional adverse effect to the environment. Despite being originated from Africa, oil palm is mostly cultivated in Southeast Asia with large plantations established in Malaysia and Indonesia due to favourable tropical climates [3]. Commercial oil palm has narrow genetic base originating from a small number of ancestral palms, which is referred to as “breeding population of restricted origins” (BPROs) [4]. In view of the narrow genetic base, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has carried out extensive collection of oil palm genetic materials from its centre of origin in Africa and Latin America (for Elaeis oleifera) since 1970s [7]. The germplasms are maintained as ex situ living collections in the field and Malaysia currently has the largest oil palm field genebank in the world [8]
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