Principal component analysis of agronomic and yield traits of six tenera oil palm progenies in Southern Thailand

Abstract

Agronomic and yield traits of oil palm progenies are regularly analyzed by plant breeders and farmers. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the agronomic and yield traits of six tenera oil palm progenies collected in Southern Thailand, and to group the progenies based on their agronomic and yield traits. The experiment used a completely randomized design with 6 treatments (progenies), where each treatment consisted of 3 replications. The agronomic and yield traits were analyzed for variances and principal components. The results found show that most agronomic and yield traits exhibited significant differences among the oil palm progenies. In the biplot of agronomic traits between PC1 and PC2 with two groups of oil palms, the first group dominated in petiole diameter, leaf dry weight, leaf length, rachis length, petiole width, and leaf area, while the second group dominated in leaf number and leaf width. In the biplot of yield traits between PC1 and PC2 with two groups of oil palms, the first group dominated in bunch number, kernels per fruit and bunch, and average kernel weight, while the second group dominated in amount of oil per fruit and bunch, average fruit weight, and oil yield.