Selection criteria of MPOB-Angola germplasm collection for yield improvement of the oil palm

Oil palm germplasm collected from Angola, Africa in 1991 were subjected to genetic variability potential studies. The collection was planted in the form of open-pollinated families as trials at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Kluang Research Station, Johor, Malaysia, in 1994. Dura palms from 52 families and tenera palms from 44 families of MPOB-Angola were evaluated for their bunch yield and bunch quality components. The objectives of this study were to determine the genetic variability among the families and performance of MPOB-Angola germplasm for yield improvement. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed highly significant differences between the dura and tenera families for most of the traits, suggesting the presence of high genetic variability, which is essential for breeding programmes. Among the duras, family AGO 02.02 displayed the best yield performance, with a high fresh fruit bunch, oil yield and total economic product at 240.40, 29.46 and 37.93 ​kg palm⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively. As for the teneras, family AGO 03.04 recorded the highest FFB yield and oil yield at 249.25 and 45.22 ​kg palm⁻¹ year⁻¹, respectively. Besides that, several families with big fruit sizes or producing a mean fruit weight of 14–17 ​g were also identified. Both dura and tenera from AGO 01.01 recorded the highest oil to bunch (O/B) of 17.76% and 28.65%, respectively. These findings will facilitate the selection of palms from the MPOB-Angola germplasm for future breeding programmes.