Identifying F2 oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) trees for their dura, pisifera and tenera types using fruit morphology and ssr markers

Abstract

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.