All field and laboratory operations should have standard health and safety protocols. These may vary according to local requirements and standards. Some equipment will also come with instructions on proper use, which may involve training, including health and safety issues. Failure to abide by these can result in accidents and personal injury (serious and minor); neglect of health and safety issues may incur penalties such as fines or cessation in field and laboratory activities. Guidelines in health and safety issues relating to crossing in oil palm are given below.

In order to collect fresh seeds from harvested bunches, the fresh bunch is chopped using an axe (a trained worker must be assigned to this job) to separate the spikelets from the stalk. Fruits attached to spikelets are fermented for 3-4 days in an area separate from the detached fruits. Detached fruits are peeled by hand by a skilled person using a sharp knife. Detached fruits are placed in a de-pulping machine to remove the mesocarp from the seed (nut). Seeds that still have fibre are cleaned by scraping with a sharp knife; this reduces fungal contamination. The clean fresh seeds are then treated with a disinfectant and fungicide solution for about 3 min and placed into perforated trays to dry in the open air under a fan for about 24 h. The dried seeds are sorted to remove off-types (white, small and broken) and transferred to slow drying conditions at 19-23°C for about 24 h.

Oil palm, EIaeis guineensis Jacq., is an important source of vegetable oil. Oil is extracted from the fruit mesocarp (crude palm oil) and from the seed (palm kernel oil). Botanically, the fruit is a drupe, with the kernel protected by a shell (nut). The commercial oil palm is Tenera (thin shelled), which is a hybrid from crossing Dura (thick shelled) seed palms with Pisifera (no shell) pollen palms. Since the shell is maternal tissue, seed for commercial planting has a thick shell. Like most seeds with very thick shells, oil palm seeds are difficult to germinate, the seed naturally germinates sporadically over time, and dormancy can last for up to 2 years. The challenges for seed production are to overcome dormancy (by weakening the operculum to allow germination), synchronize germination, produce a high germination percentage and high-quality germinated seed, free of abnormality or fungal infection. The processes used involve temperature treatments, imbibition, adjustment of seed moisture content and fungal control.

Pollination is controlled through a window in the specialized isolation bag; this reduces the risk of contamination (foreign pollen, disease and insects). Prior to pollination, the area around the isolation bag is sprayed to kill insects, as these can carry unwanted pollen. Pollen is normally mixed and diluted with talcum powder to provide an inert spreading media. This mixture is blown on to receptive female inflorescences using a surface-sterilized 'popper' that has a tube containing silica gel to adsorb the moisture from the pollinator's breath. The isolation bag is also shaken to spread the pollen over the entire inflorescence. Labels are then attached showing pollination dates and parental genotypes. The isolation bags may be removed once fruit set is established and harvested when fruits are mature.

The ripe bunch with red-coloured fruits can be harvested about 150 days after pollination, or when one loose fruit appears on the ground. Harvested bunches are sent to the processing area in gunny sacks, along with any loose fruit that detach during harvesting. Minimum ripeness standards are used to reduce the risk of loose fruit/seed being lost, and the use of net bags after bag removal at 21-25 days post-pollination will prevent any loose fruit loss.