The application of oil palm tissue culture and its challenges / Mohamad Amirul Jefni Nasaruddin and Pathimah @ Fatimah Abdol Latif

Oil palm production is one of the vital industry in Malaysia, as the country is the second largest producer in the world. It has seen such significant progress since commenced in the early 70 s with Malaysia plat s an important role in fulfilling the glowing global need. With increasing global demands for vegetable oils, the yield productivity in the country must be improved rapidly. However, oil palm industry is in slow or less growing period due to multiple factors. Weather, plant diseases and ageing plant are among the factors that hindering the growth of the industry. Through biotechnology, the conventional breeding can be replaced with tissue culture technique such as organogenesis, callogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. This technique also can ensure the high quality of seedlings and maintain the important agronomic characteristics of oil palm. However, the subsequent of this technique resulting in appearance of the mantled fruit soma clonal variant in regenerated palms. The objective of this review is to discuss the oil palm tissue culture and its applications to increase the productivity in an efficient manner. Nonetheless, the challenges that encounter in oil palm tissue culture process also will be addressed in this review.