You must be well known for vegetable oil. But have you ever wondered how you could obtain them? Or which type of vegetables and plants can be used to make them?
Different vegetables and resources can be used to extract the vegetable oil. But the palm is the most common source because of its high productivity among all oilseed crops.
A Brazilian junior researcher in Brazil, Manoel Teixeira Souza Júnior, works with palm oil plants. He also published his research in Crop Science, a journal of the Crop Science Society of America.
According to Souza Junior, oil palm plants are of two types.
- American oil Palm: it comes with various traits of producing high-quality palm oil. Moreover, it’s disease resistant.
- African Oil Palm: It is cultivated for commercial use.
Research aim:
With this research, Souza Júnior aims to describe the collection of American oil Palm plants present at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa. The collection comprises diverse oil palm plant species with genetic diversity. This collection of oil palm plants is known as a germplasm bank.
According to Souza Júnior, it was crucial to characterize the collection further for efficient use of American oil palm in oil palm breeding programs. The analysis findings will improve the collection and help characterize and conserve the plants.
The researchers also examined the genetic code of each plant to assess its effectiveness. They identify specific genetic markers to access the traits present in the plants.
While examining the genetic markers, it is also imperative to understand the differences and similarities within the plant’s DNA. In this way, researchers can identify the plants with the most valuable traits.
Not only this, but this research will also allow the research team at Embrapa to discard collections with no specific traits. According to Souza Júnior, their analysis can reduce the collection size by 20%.
Farmers are always searching for a better variety of stress-tolerant oil palm that can produce better quality oil. Plant breeders can incorporate the specific traits present in the germplasm bank collection into the commercially grown plants. In this way, they can help farmers get their desired traits.
The main focus of the breeders is to incorporate the two main characteristics of the American oil palm into commercial African oil palm. These characteristics include resistance to disease and better oil quality.
Importance of research:
Improvement in the oil palm crops means farmers can explore new markets. Currently, oil palm is primarily used in the cleaning and food industry. But it can be extended to the medicine and biofuel industry if the productivity and supply of the oil palm improve.
According to Souza Júnior, the current pandemic situation encourages researchers to develop a solution. With this research, they also aim to improve life on the planet.
Future research goals:
Souza Júnior aims to expand this research to help farmers move forward. The following phases include analyzing the DNA of several oil palm kinds and gathering information on the response of commercial oil palm to environmental stress.
This research project by Manoel Teixeira Souza Júnior, a Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation researcher, was supported by the Innovation (MCTI) and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, and Technology.