oil palm breeding: พฤศจิกายน 2009

The early history of the oil palm in Central America is largely the history of the crop in the United Fruit Company. Eventhough the major interest of the United Fruit Company since the last years of the 19th century has been the production and exportation of bananas, an interest in crop diversification is long standing.
A. Preston and L.D. Baker started to ship bananas from Caribbean Islands and Honduras in 1876, and in 1884 Preston formed the Boston Fruit Company for the same purpose. In 1872 the first Gros Michel bananas were cultivated in Costa Rica, and the first small Costa Rican shipments of bananas to New Orleans and New York occurred in 1879. Minor C. Keith formed the Tropical Trading and Transport Company in the early 1890's. In 1898 the banana distributor handling Keith's bananas went out of business and Keith was seeking another distributor. In March 1899, the United Fruit Company was formed by a fusion of Preston's and Keith's interests.
In the first two decades of the 20th century, the consolidation of the banana business in Honduras was troubled by political unrest, and in Costa Rica it was strongly opposed by the oligarchy of coffee growers. In 1923 United Fruit formed a Department of Tropical Research, which was located in La Lima, Honduras from 1926. In this same year the Lancetilla Experiment Station was founded near Tela, Honduras. The introduction of new tropical crops for evaluation in Central America was one of the primary goals of the Lancetilla Botanical Garden, as it was later called. Renown American botanist Wilson Popenoe was the Superintendent of Lancetilla for its first 14 years, and the oil palm collection was managed by Alfred F. Butler during the same period.
The continuing spread of the serious banana disease Fusarium Wilt coupled with the company's persistence in utilizing a Fusarium susceptible variety, caused the abandonment of large areas of highly productive lands from banana cultivation. Part of these areas were variously used for the cultivation of abaca, cocoa, timber trees and oil palm. Abaca and oil palm growing was part of the "war effort" during World War II.
Early Period: 1920-1960
Introduction of Oil Palm Germplasm
Guatemala
In a letter dated May 4, 1928, Mr. J. P. Armstrong reported, after the fact, on what may have been the first oil palm seed introduction into Central America. According to Armstrong, "In 1919 or 1920 at the request of Guatemalan manager G. M. Shaw, I wrote to the Colonial Secretary in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to secure a few seeds of the African Oil Palm." The seeds arrived in a small packet of wood charcoal and were planted by U.F. employee, Mr. Tivy. The seeds eventually sprouted and palms were established at the Bobos district headquarters as ornamentals.
Later in April 1929, L. S. Bennett, manager of the Guatemalan Division, sent 1000 open-pollinated seeds of these Sierra Leone materials to Dr. Popenoe at Lancetilla. These were planted in June, 1929.
Panama
On January 2, 1926, Otto A. Reinking wrote from Singapore to H.S. Blair, manager of the Almirante Division in Panama, informing him of a shipment of oil palm seeds that had been sent to Panama. According to Reinking, "these were collected from 10 of the best pollinated trees at the Experiment Station at Serdang, F.M.S."
A second lot of seeds from Sumatra was also shipped. The oil palm seeds arrived in May, 1926, and were germinated by J. H. Permar of the Almirante Research Department. Two years later 100 palms of the 1926 Deli material had been established in Farm 6.
In June, 1927, O.A. Reinking delivered additional Deli dura seed to Almirante, three accessions with 130 seeds from the Buitenzorg (Bogor) Botanical Garden in Java and two accessions with 80 seeds from Serdang palms. A total of 135 nursery palms were established from this seed by May, 1928.
By July, 1928, problems were appearing in the Almirante field palms. Even though beetle Strategus attacks were controlled by cyanogas treatment, and the rat problem was reduced by improved cleaning of the plots, bud rot (Lethal Spear Rot) could not be controlled. By October 31, 1928, the disease had killed 27 per cent of these 2.5 year old palms (from germination). O.A. Reinking describes this disease he calls "Heart Rot" as follows:
"The disease in African Oil Palm apparently starts at the tips and sides of the young central group of folded leaves of the heart of the plants and gradually works downward until the bud is killed. In severe cases the oldest unfolded leaves are browned. Frequently the outer oldest leaves of the plant are yellowed giving the entire plant a sickly look."
Reinking undertook the identification of micro-organisms associated with the disease and found: "bacteria, Fusarium moniliforme, and a possible Phytophthora". Reinking thought that Heart Rot was probably caused by the Phytophthora due to his earlier experience with coconut bud rot.
This is probably the first recorded incidence of Lethal Spear Rot infected oil palm in the Americas, a disease of considerable importance some 70 years later.
Due to the disease problem at Almirante, the 135 nursery palms from seed introduced in 1927 were transferred to a new experiment station established in Siquirres, Costa Rica in October, 1928. The project in Almirante was abandoned.
Honduras
In Honduras the major work with oil palm introductions was done at the Lancetilla Experiment Station starting in 1927. Dr. Popenoe had heard of the oil palm materials received in Panama and suggested to R.K. Thomas, Manager of the Tela Railroad Company, that germplasm also be obtained for the Lancetilla station.
In June, 1927, Reinking also delivered to Popenoe oil palm seed he had collected in the Far East. Additional germplasm was obtained through David Fairchild and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Field planting of the resulting seedlings of these largely Deli dura materials took place in May, 1928. (Table 1)
In May, 1931, the drying-up of some of the Lancetilla palms from introduced seed was reported and in January, 1932, 17 per cent of the palms were reported as affected with "Crown disease." The considerable variation in growth of the palms at this stage was correlated with soil type, with the poor growing palms situated on sandy and rocky soil.
Two additional important seed introductions were carried out in 1929 from Sierra Leone and Belgian Congo. Mr. E.I. Nisbett, in charge of the Njala Experimental Farm in Sierra Leone, sent open-pollinated seeds of three Nigerian palms, three Sierra Leone palms and one Angolan palm. And Mr. A. Corbisier-Baland sent six seed lots from the Eala Botanical Gardens in the Belgian Congo including four duras and two teneras. Other introductions were received mainly from the U.S.D.A. In 1930 A.F. Butler reported that 35 oil palm varieties had been established at Lancetilla and by the mid 1930's 44 varieties were planted (Table 1).
In 1949-50 Warren Breck made additional oil palm seed collections in Cameroon and this seed was planted at Lancetilla in 1951.
This impressive, early collection of oil palm germplasm was not well utilized. Tests in 1942-1943 showed that the Deli dura types had better oil and kernel yields than the African types, hence the Deli types were selected for commercial planting. This finding fueled a disdain for the African materials which were subsequently largely ignored. The present oil palm germplasm collection contains descendants of only 9 of these early African introductions. Preservation of these materials was also hampered by the lack of controlled pollination techniques before 1960. Table 2 sumarizes the germplasm introductions of ASD.
Selection of Oil Palm Introductions
In 1942 when the initial (1928) Lancetilla plantings were 14 years old, a record of bunch yields from different varieties was kept, and for a period of two years one bunch per month per variety was analyzed for its components. The results were as shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Bunch yield from different varieties
Character Variety

Bogor Deli Sumatra Deli Serdang Deli Best African Average African
Ave. bunch wt.(kg) 26.8 24.1 21.4 20.3 11.8
Oil/bunch (%) 14.1 13.6 13 11.7 12.3
Kernel/bunch (%) 6.4 6.6 6.6 8.3 7.3
Pericarp Oil/ha (MT) 2.9 2.5 2.1 1.6 1

In an early 1943 report, bunch yield, high kernel to fruit, and a high percentage of palm kernel oil to kernel were stated as the primary selection characteristics. In addition, large single kernels were preferred to multiple kernels, but pericarp oil was judged to be of secondary importance. Later the importance of pericarp oil was realized and it was included as a primary selection criterion.
The Bogor Deli types were considered best of the group and attempts were made to supply seed for commercial plantings only from these. Since the seed demand was high, however, considerable seed of the Sumatran Deli type was also distributed.
Distribution of Oil Palm Seed in The Americas
As part of a publicity campaign in Guatemala, A.F. Butler wrote "The African Oil Palm: A Possible New Crop for Central America" in March, 1930. He pointed out the favorable climatic conditions for oil palm on the Central American Atlantic Coast and reviewed the oil palm introduction work. As a result considerable interest was stimulated in the crop and many requests for seed were received.
Seed supplied from Lancetilla was open-pollinated seed. Since the seed producing palms were in a variety plot and cross-pollination is the norm in oil palm, the seed distributed was only partly of Deli dura origin. In 1970 De Jong estimated the frequency of Deli x African hybrids in San Alejo plantings from Lancetilla open-pollinated seed to be 4.5 per cent, hence he considered the population to be justifiably called "Deli dura."
Starting in 1936, planting materials were supplied to Pedro and Arturo Garcia for a small plantation of oil palm at Birichichi Farm in Honduras.
In October, 1937, seeds were supplied to Dr. M. Fortun, Director of Experiment Stations, Cuba, and in December of the same year the first seed sale was realized. This seed was sold to J. Gonzalez y Cia of Guatemala at a price of a US penney per seed.
Early in 1943, cost estimates were prepared for oil palm planting and approval was obtained for planting in San Alejo, Honduras and Quepos, Costa Rica. Shipments of Deli dura seed to Costa Rica started July, 1943. Small trial plots were planted in several Honduran locations including Siguatepeque (1928), Guaruma 3, Amapa and Los Dragos.
Oil palm seed was supplied to B.J. Birdsall, Director of the Tingo Maria Experiment Station in Peru in April, 1944. In 1945, when the early results of plantings at San Alejo and Quepos were encouraging the United Fruit Company established trial plantings in its other Divisions. Seed was supplied to C.E. Romhild, Manager, Cukra Development Co. for a planting at La Esperanza (Rama) in Nicaragua. In spite of some serious disease problems, this planting persisted for a long period. It was equipped with a small extraction mill and palm oil was shipped in drums to Managua.
Similarly, seed was supplied to J.R. Strange, Manager, Cia. Frutera Sevilla, who realized a planting at Patuca Farm in the Santa Marta zone of Colombia. These illegitimate Deli dura palms were selected and subsequently used for oil palm seed production in Colombia. Patuca was also supplied with a small oil extraction facility.
Lancetilla Deli dura seed was also supplied for the Scott plantation, near Sto. Domingo de los Colorados, Ecuador. These palms also provided female parents for oil palm seed production in Ecuador.
In Guatemala oil palm plantings were established both at "Bananera" on the Atlantic Coast and Tiquisate on the Pacific Coast. Tiquisate plantings of 1946 and 1948 totaled 360 hectares. The Bananera planting was served by a small extraction facility and palm oil was marketed.
In Panama in 1947 a small planting of oil palm was established in Jagua Farm, Armuelles, but was later abandoned. In 1950 seed of Lancetilla Deli duras was shipped to Mexico for the initiation of a plantation at Tapachula, Chiapas.
Establishment of the Early Oil Palm Plantations
In 1936 and 1938 plantings Pedro and Arturo Garcia established what probably was the first commercial oil palm plantation in Central America at Birichichi Farm, Progreso, Yoro, Honduras. Only 6.5 hectares were planted by 1938, but in 1942 the planting was extended to 16.6 hectares. The early plantings were thought mostly of African origin (mainly Eala material) with only about 10 per cent Deli duras. This farm utilized 2 year-old nursery palms to minimize rat damage to the recently transplanted field palms.
The highly seasonal yield cycles of the Honduras north coast were noted in the Garcia plantation with 68.3 per cent of the annual yield concentrated in the months of July through October. Birichichi oil yields were a respectable 2.4 MT oil per hectare per year over a 3 year period.
The Garcias had purchased oil extraction equipment consisting of a cooker, Krupp-Essen hydraulic press, husker, cracker and kernel separator before 1943. This oil extraction equipment was borrowed by the Division of Tropical Research (U.F. Co.,) and the Garcia palm bunches were processed by this research group. Averages of bunch components obtained during processing were as shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Analysis of Oil Palm Bunches - Birichichi (%)
Fruit to bunch 66.0
Nut to fruit 46.7
Mesocarp to fruit 53.3
Oil to mesocarp 51.7
Kernel to fruit 9.6
Shell to fruit 37.0
Oil to bunch 18.2
From 1942 the United Fruit Company accumulated considerable information and experience in palm oil extraction and processing. This work was directed mainly by Austrian chemist E.O. Reif. In March, 1943, the bunch quality of Deli and African types was reported and estimates of oil yield per acre were made. The bunch analysis work was done in the research laboratory by John A. Stuart and his lab assistant W.G. Breck, who would later become President of the United Fruit Company.
After the Garcia extraction equipment was set up oil extraction was carefully monitored by the Research Department. During 1946-1947 a considerable number of oil samples were shipped to the US for studies on carotene extraction and other end uses for palm oil. Dr. E.O. Reif studied the build-up of free fatty acids in oil palm fruits, became the company's trouble shooter in oil extraction and guided oil processing and the manufacture of vegetable oil products. Reif worked in Honduras during the 1940's and in later Costa Rica, where he helped the Numar Company and other Quepos palm oil purchasers develop processing methods.
The highly satisfactory results of the Garcia planting encouraged the United Fruit Company to embark on oil palm plantings as of 1943 in San Alejo, Honduras and 1944 in Quepos, Costa Rica.
In April, 1943, cost estimates were requested for oil palm planting and the 4 year pre-bearing period cost was estimated at US$ 84 per hectare. Major costs were in land clearing and cleaning-circling of the palms (75 per cent). No fertilizer cost was budgeted at all. Harvesting costs were estimated at $0.035 per bunch on young palms and $0.07 for old palms. Processing costs were estimated at $0.054/ kg. pericarp oil and $0.158/kg. of palm kernel oil. Market prices at the time were $255/MT for palm oil. A consideration of the economics of the project brought approval for the initiation of the two plantations in September, 1943.
Recommendations for planting oil palm were issued by the research group in 1951. These included:
Transplanting to the field during rainy months.
Use of nursery palms 4 to 6 feet tall (12-18 months).
A caution against deep planting.
Protection of young palms from rats and grazing animals.
Grass and brush control by brush cutters on 3 month cycles.
Circle weeding as required.
Fertilization is not necessary.
Oil extraction mills were ordered from Manlove, Alliott and Co., London in 1948. The San Alejo mill began operating at the end of 1950 and the Quepos mill in March, 1951.
Since the initial interest in establishing oil palm plantations in 1943, annual plantings continued regularly through 1952, at which time about 4000 and 1800 hectares had been planted in Quepos and San Alejo, respectively. The planting of new areas was essentially discontinued until 1962, except for some 665 ha. planted in Quepos during 1958-59. Barring a few seed imports, open-pollinated Deli dura seed of Lancetilla origin continued to be the main source of planting material through 1966.
Average yields for this illegitimate Deli dura material was calculated based on 1972 performance (Table 5).
Table 5. Average yields of Open-Pollinated Deli dura of Lancetilla origin
Age (years) FFB Yield (MT/ha)
San Alejo Quepos
6 13.5 10.7
7-8 15.7 16.3
9-10 16.8 18.0
11-12 16.8 15.7
15-16 14.6 14.6
20-21 12.4 13.5
24-25 10.1 12.4
27-28 9.0 10.1

B. Period After 1961
From 1962 United Fruit strategy included a firmer commitment to its oil palm business, and the decade of the 60's included a large number of steps to expand and improve oil palm operations. In 1965 the United Fruit Company acquired the Cia. Numar a vegetable oil processing and sales organization, thus vertically integrating its vegetable oil enterprise.
The Numar Company was founded by Richard Johnson in 1950 along with two associates from California. Operations were initiated in San Jose in 1951. At first imported refined oil from the US was used as the raw material. The Quepos division was not yet producing palm oil, but by the end of 1952 Quepos made a few oil shipments to Europe. In 1953 Numar added bleaching and deodorizing equipment and negotiated the purchase of crude palm oil with Quepos. The production of vegetable shortening (manteca) from palm oil replaced imported lard from the US and the Netherlands. Clover Brand shortening was such a success that Quepos production could not meet the demand and it was necessary to import palm oil. From 1956 up to the time of political unrest in 1960, palm oil was purchased from Lever Bros. in the Belgian Congo. Oil receiving facilities were set up on the Limon wharf and very good quality oil was obtained. After 1960 a lower quality oil was obtained from Malaysia (mostly) and Sumatra. Quepos oil was shipped by tank barge from Quepos to Puntarenas, where it was pumped into railroad tank cars to be taken to San Jose.
At first Numar produced only shortening and margarine. Later Nicaraguan cottonseed oil was used in the margarine and cottonseed oil and corn oil products were offered to the public. The Numar Company was purchased by the United Fruit Company in 1965. In 1967 United Fruit established oil processing facilities in Honduras, and in 1969 it purchased the company Aceitera Corona in Nicaragua.
Expansion of areas planted to oil palm was considerable from 1962 to 1969 with San Alejo planting 2200 hectares and Quepos 4730 hectares of additional land. In addition a new oil palm division was opened in Coto, Costa Rica in 1965 and 2800 hectares were planted between 1966 and 1970. This expansion was mainly carried out with Deli dura x Congo tenera seed made in San Alejo, although in some instances open-pollinated Deli dura seed was used even up to 1967.
In 1964 the company brought in C.W.S. Hartley to review the oil palm program. His report highlighted the low numbers of management and supervisory personnel attending oil palm, the lack of a concerted research effort on oil palm, and inadequate weed control (grasses). Fertilization of U.F. oil palms with nitrogen was initiated in 1960, but Hartley pointed out the probable need for other nutrients and the lack of any systematic nutritional controls. The replacement of ladder harvesting by Malaysian knives and poles, harvesting of green fruit, excessive leaf pruning, cattle grazing, and the use of Deli dura planting materials were other concerns of Hartley. Staff development was proposed through procurement of appropriate oil palm literature and visits to production and research centers. Hartley's visit found United Fruit in a receptive state and most of the recommendations were implemented.
In 1961 George Bauwin initiated the first Company fertilizer trial on oil palm in San Alejo and obtained yield responses for both nitrogen and phosphorus. In 1967 a series of fertilizer and weed control investigations were initiated by G. Bomers in the 3 company divisions in response to Hartley's recommendations. Bomers confirmed the need for N and P applications in San Alejo and obtained a yield response to N and K in Quepos and N in Coto. Herbicide schedules for good weed control were developed. From 1970 and "Improved Cultivation Program" was established in which weed control and fertilization were carried out according to the results of the agronomy experiments.
Breeding and Seed Production in San Alejo (1966-1973)
In the 1961 fertilizer trial the palms were yield recorded on an individual palm basis. In 1965 these illegitimate Deli palms were pre-selected for yield and selected palms underwent bunch, but not oil, analysis. Final selection of SP palms included 59 first class illegitimate Deli duras and six Deli x African teneras. In 1966 DxT seed was produced and 2,270 kg. of oil palm seed was supplied to the two Costa Rican divisions to replace the open-pollinated Deli seed previously used. Pollination techniques were not good and more duras than teneras resulted in the progeny.
In 1967 the first large scale oleifera collection took place from the Quepos, Limon, Palmar, and Golfito zones of Costa Rica and the Armuelles and Chiriqui zones of Panama. Seed germination and nursery facilities were set up in San Alejo and Coto, Costa Rica, and the Coto station received most of the oleifera collection. Progeny trials of SP palms were established in 1967 and 1968 in San Alejo and a few SP progenies were included in the Commercial Seed Source trials planted at Coto in 1969. These Honduran SP progenies did not perform very well compared to Malaysian and Ivory Coast progenies.
Seed production for 1967 and 1968 totaled 1.4 million seeds. Since SP teneras were limited in number, Congo teneras were used as male parents for seed production. These 1963 planted teneras were from DxP crosses, but both parents were of Yaligimba, Zaire origin. The Congo teneras were high bunch number types, but with excessive vegetative growth. In 1968 the male parents were selected on the basis of bunch characteristics.
Oleifera collection continued in Panama covering the area from the Costa Rican border to the canal zone in 1968.
In 1969 Jan de Jong took over oil palm breeding in San Alejo and Coto. The first palm introductions from seed exchange programs and the seed source trials were planted in Coto and additional progeny tests of the SP palms were planted in San Alejo. Although a small amount of seed was produced in 1969, most of it was discarded when a decision was reached to purchase seed for subsequent plantings.
In October, 1969, M.L. Levine orchestrated the elimination of oil palm breeding and seed production efforts by the Research Department and turned over the Coto project to the Golfito production division. Although this change was short-lived and the project was resuscitated in early 1974 it caused considerable problems in the establishment and early evaluation of the first oil palm plantings in the Coto project and eliminated breeding work at San Alejo. In 1973 some seed production continued with San Alejo Deli duras pollinated by AVROS and URT pollen from Coto. These seeds were planted in the San Alejo production division.
IRHO-UB Cooperative Project on Interspecific Hybrids
After the bleak years of 1971-1973 in United Brands oil palm research, we received a letter from J. Fleury and M. Ollagnier in February, 1974, which outlined IHRO plans for development of the oleifera x guineensis interspecific hybrids. They suggested that once a project of OxG crosses was terminated on Colombian oleiferas a similar project might be conducted in Coto on Central American oleiferas. This was agreed upon and in mid - 1975 the project was initiated by D. Boutin under the direction of J. Meunier. The initiation of this cooperative project at the Coto station had a number of important benefits for our oil palm research. The interest of a prestigious oil palm research group in our germplasm suggested to headquarters that perhaps the Coto station contained something of scientific interest. Working with experienced oil palm scientists, proper oil palm methodology was picked-up by an inexperienced Coto staff. The project supplied a large array of OxG interspecific hybrids for field testing, and as a result of the project valuable IRHO germplasm was made available to United Brands. The cooperative IRHO-UB project also had one important disadvantage, in that we gave credence to IRHO advice as follows: "Forget about straight guineensis breeding, you are starting 30 years too late. Concentrate on OxG interspecific hybrids." While the start was late, the guineensis materials that we had obtained were as good as any available at the time, hence represented an adequate starting point for breeding in the 1980's.
In any case in 1975 when the cooperative project started we were able to hire a talented young breeder, R. Escobar. In mid-1976 J.A. Salas a banana pathologist was transferred from Honduras to form the Palm Research Program, and in late 1977 C.J. Breure joined the group as head of the Agronomy Department. At this time G. Alpizar was in charge of technology transfer to the divisions. Hence, by 1977 a competent staff had been assembled to compete on the international scene.
Oil Palm Seed Exchange Programs
As a further result of Hartley's 1964 recommendations, a U.F. Co. team of production and research personnel visited Malaysian plantations in 1966. One of the results of this visit was to note the interest of Malaysian oil palm breeders in the American Oil Palm (Elaeis oleifera). Consequently, from 1966 a large collection of this species was assembled in Coto from Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Surinam, and Brazil. Starting in 1967, a series of oil palm germplasm exchanges (oleifera for guineensis) were carried out with African and Asian oil palm breeding units, and in this way a large and varied collection of E. guineensis germplasm was also assembled at Coto.
In February, 1967, I wrote to B.S. Gray at Banting indicating United Fruit's interest in oil palm breeding, our plans to collect Elaeis oleifera, and our desire to exchange this material for E. guineensis breeding material. We were also interested in DxP crosses to determine which origins were best adapted to Central American conditions. A similar letter was sent to A. H. Green in London and both letters met with favorable replies. As a result of these contacts J.J. Hardon visited Costa Rica in September, 1967 and in December his oleifera collections were shipped to the Chemara Research Station. In December, 1967, we received:
6 crosses Deli x URT
6 crosses Deli x BM119
2 crosses BM119 x BM119
1 cross URT x URT
3 crosses CHEMARA Delis
3 crosses H&C Delis
In July, 1968, a second shipment of Panamanian oleifera was shipped to Hardon through Kew (Commonwealth Mycological Institute).
Exchange programs with Unilever, Cameroons began in July, 1967 when nine lots of seeds from wild palms in the Bamenda Highlands were shipped to Central America.
In May, 1968, 24 accessions of Costa Rican and Panamanian oleifera were sent to Lobe, Cameroon. In January, 1969, five lots of oleifera x Cameroon pisifera seed were shipped to Lobe. In May, 1969, G. Blaak sent 14 crosses of largely Ekona materials to Central America. These crosses included outstanding pisifera parents in the accession CAM 236 (2/2311T x 3AR/7239T).
P.G. Martineau of the Socfin Research Department visited Costa Rica and Panama in early 1969 for oleifera perspection. Seeds of 40 accessions were sent to Socfin in May, 1969. Pollen of Sibiti pisifera and seeds of Deli dura and Yangambi and La Me T x T crosses were received in Central America from Socfin in October, 1970.
In 1975 an extensive crossing program was carried out on Central American oleiferas with pollen supplied by the IRHO. As a result of this cooperative project, five accessions each of La Me, Yangambi and Nigerian origin TxT and TxP crosses were delivered to the United Fruit breeding project in 1979.
Similarly seed exchange programs were arranged with:
Dr. S.C. Ooi of Mardi in 1977
Tam Tai Kin of Banting in 1977
E.A. Rosenquist of Dami in 1977
J.B. Wonkyi-Appiah of Kade,Ghana in 1977
Oil Palm Seed Collection Trips
In 1978 G. Blaak prospected for oil palms in the Kigoma district of Tanzania. Some of the material was characterized by "paper thin" shells and all the material had good bunch composition. Five accessions of this origin were established at the Coto station.
In July, 1979, seed was collected from 12 palms in Mobai, Sierra Leone by Blaak. These unusual palms were also established at the Coto research station.
More recently, collections from the Entebbe Botanic Garden, Zambia and Malawi have been added to the germplasm pool.
The collection of Elaeis oleifera involved a rather large number of persons over considerable time. Some 365 oleifera accessions covering 43 zones in seven countries were collected in what surely must have been the world's most diverse collection of this species (Table 6). This collection was cumbersome and costly to maintain and hence was reduced to crosses of selected oleiferas based on OxG progeny testing.
Utilization of the Oil Palm Germplasm
As indicated above, the oil palm germplasm assembled at Lancetilla with the exception of the Deli duras was almost a total loss. Some of the African accessions were used in planting the Birichichi plantation in 1936 and a few were transferred to the Coto program where they were used sparingly. The Deli duras on the other hand were utilized for commercial planting programs in Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Mexico from 1943 to 1966. Descendants of Lancetilla Delis were used as female parents for controlled seed production in Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador. One of the principal objectives of the early seed exchange programs was to obtain commercial oil palm hybrids of different types for yield testing in Central America. Two trials of hybrids of different origins were planted in Coto in 1968, and by 1975 it was apparent that the Deli x BM119 cross was performing better than the other types tested. These trials can be criticized for the inadequate border rows and the short evaluation period which gave an advantage to precocious materials with vigorous growth. Nevertheless the Deli x AVROS hybrid was the standard for the United Brands company from 1975 to 1992.
It was not until 1977 that large scale progeny trials were laid down testing parental materials sent by J.J. Hardon in December, 1967. From these trials it was concluded that HC129 (BM119 derivative) was a better male parent than CHE131(URT derivative) largely on the basis of bunch composition. Among the Deli parents it was determined that HC133, HC136 and CHE137 were better female parents than HC132, CHE134 and CHE135.
In 1988 F.Sterling joins the breeding program to work with D.L.Richardson, who retiires in 1993 and becomes a consultant for the breeding program in Coto in particular and the whole Numar Group.
In 1966 as part of the E. oleifera collection project, a natural E. oleifera x E. guineensis hybrid was found in a pasture at the edge of the Quepos plantation. This palm was pollinated by E. guineensis and the resulting seeds were planted in Coto. This progeny produced two abnormal palms which were identified in 1976. One of these had a short trunk and long leaves, while the other had a short trunk and short fronds. The latter palm was called the "original compact palm", and subsequently has given rise to an entire breeding program focusing on the utilization of this growth phenotype.
The compact program has been conducted by back crossing the original compact palm to materials of proven agronomic worth and selecting among the progeny for short leaves and stems. Crossing compacts with La Me and Calabar materials gives much better growth characters than crossing with AVROS types. Some exceptional compact palms have been produced in the second backcross from the original compact palm when Ekona pollen was used. These selected compacts have the very good bunch composition of the male parent.
Table 7 sumarizes the advice received from several consultants on oil palm.

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oil palm breeding

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