Is Clonal Oil Palm a Sustainable Solution?

Meilina Ong-Abdullah*, Siew–Eng Ooi, Siti Rahmah Abdul Rahman, Samsul Kamal Rosli, Norashikin Sarpan, Nuraziyan Azimi, Rajinder Singh, Eng-Ti Leslie Low, Mohamad Arif Abd Manaf, Ooi Leslie Cheng-Li, Mohd Din Amiruddin, Jared M Ordway, Nan Jiang, Steven W Smith, Nathan D Lakey, Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir, Robert A Martienssen and Ravigadevi Sambanthamurthi

Abstract

The oil palm industry is not new to controversies, however the latest campaign led by the west demanding a total ban of palm oil as feedstock for biodiesel is clearly impacting the industry. Their stance is that the ban will curb the rapid growth of the industry which is responsible for massive deforestation and loss of biodiversity.  Nonetheless, producing countries and supporters of the industry cry foul over the ban as the oil palm is the world’s most efficient oil crop and certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) is attainable. With shrinking arable land and declining national oil yield output, Malaysia is in dire need of a boost in production. Aside from leveraging Malaysia’s rich genetic oil palm resource through conventional breeding, the cloning technology has provided an alternative to fast-track crop improvement. Plant tissue culture is one of the earliest and most widely used agriculture technology with the potential to bring about 10-15% increase in productivity against the most improved current DxP and touted as the ‘second wave’ in yield improvement for the oil palm. Despite, having been around for close to 40 years, the oil palm clonal industry has yet to really make a significant impact to uplift national productivity. However, with steady progress made over the years, field evaluations are beginning to show positive effects of clones on oil extraction rates and ultimately oil yields. In addition, some clones established have unique characteristics that provide the variety in clonal production. Leveraging cutting-edge molecular tools as well as platform technologies further boost confidence in the utilization of clones. Biomarkers associated with embryogenesis and KARMA have been developed into predictive tools as part of a quality assurance procedure in clonal production. Nonetheless, for clones to impact national yields their utilization needs to be intensified. Tissue culture-derived materials are costlier than seed-derived palms. Although, this may not be too big an issue for large estates or plantation players but it is imperative to develop a viable mechanism to encourage investments in clonal plantings especially amongst smallholders to expand the current 2-3% clonally planted area. Several models are currently being studied. Yield improvements are expected to reach a plateau one day and genetic manipulation would probably be the approach to break these yield barriers. In this situation, cloning technology would be crucial as it is the prerequisite for its success.