Geographic and genetic structure of African oil palm diversity suggests new approaches to breeding

Abstract

Since the 1960s, there has been very little diversification of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) seed production, with mainly Deli × La Mé and Deli × Congo type crosses. The Deli origin, which was introduced from Africa into Indonesia in 1848, is unavoidable in breeding. In order to understand the complementarity between the Africa and "Asia" origins, and to diversify the genetic base of oil palm production, the structure of the genetic resources involved in the history of oil palm breeding in relation to African germplasm including subspontaneous populations needs to be understood. In this study, 318 individuals from 26 origins and eight countries were analysed with 14 microsatellite loci. Descriptive and Bayesian analyses of oil palm genetic diversity (Principal Coordinates Analysis, Neighbour-Joining Tree and Structure software) revealed two original groups which reflected the discontinuity of African species at the Dahomey Gap, West Africa (Group I) on the one hand, and "Benin-Nigeria-Cameroon-Congo-Angola" (Group II) on the other hand. The Deli group (Group III), derived from group II, is the result of artificial selection (mass selection). The genetic structuring revealed showed the positive contribution of the within-population mass selection practiced in the Deli population, and explains the success of Deli × La Mé and Deli × Congo crosses. A selection strategy is proposed, based on the yet-to-beexploited complementarity that exists between the two African genetic groups and on within-group improvement. We suggest (Deli × Group II) × Group I crosses, so that group II benefits from the quality of the Deli origin.

Genetic Relationships between Elite Oil Palms from Nigeria and Selected Breeding and Germplasm Materials from Malaysia via Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers

“…It was of interest to note that cluster analysis did not entirely group genotypes according to their provenances. This result is congruent with Bakoumé et al (2015) and Cochard et al (2009) who found that accessions from Nigeria, Cameroon, and Angola were grouped in the same cluster. Furthermore, it has also been suggested that the possible origin of Deli materials is in a region covering Nigeria, Cameroon, Zaire, and Angola (Bakoumé et al, 2015).…”

“…The number of alleles per locus also could have depended on the SSR markers used. In fact, Cochard et al (2009) and Bakoumé et al (2015) used comparable sets of SSR markers different from the one employed in the present study.…”

“…Elsewhere in Malaysia, the elite breeding populations are dominated by Deli dura and AVROS (Algemeene Vereniging van Rubber Planters ter Oostkust van Sumatra) pisifera. The Deli dura palms are descendants of four palms introduced into Bogor Botanical Gardens in the Deli region of Indonesia in 1848 (Jagoe, 1952;Kushairi & Rajanaidu, 2000;Cochard et al, 2009). Intense breeding and selections on the Bogor descendants over several generations gave rise to the Deli dura population (Kushairi, 2002) currently used for seed production worldwide.…”

Seed biometric parameters in oil palm accessions from a Brazilian germplasm bank

“…Research on diversity suggests that the germplasm of oil palm is structured into three groups (Cochard et al, 2009). The native populations from Africa are genetically structured into two groups from regions separated by the Dahomey Gap, a dry zone that separates regions of equatorial climate forests in Western Africa.…”

Assessment of Genetic Diversity of NIFOR Oil Palm Main Breeding Parent Genotypes Using Microsatellite Markers

“…Besides, oil palm improvement programme in NIFOR and elsewhere aims at producing high quality oil yielding tenera (D × P) planting materials. Therefore, the maintenance of adequate genetic variability among parent populations used for hybrid seed production is critical for maximum utilization of heterosis and sustained genetic progress in the selection cycle [8].…”