Nut Component Analysis of Exotic and Indigenous Sources of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) Planting Materials

Four hybrid combination each from Costa Rica (Deli × Ekona, Deli ×Avros, Deli×Ghana, Deli×Lame) and Palode (12´266, 128 ×31323, 12 ×313, 65D ×111) two Papua New Guinea (18C×2501, 9C×1001) and one Ivory coast (1M-0069D) sources of planting materials were taken up for assessing kernel and nut characters. Fresh fruits were collected and de-pericarped and soaked for 4 days in water. The seed morphological characters viz., length of seed, width of seed, shell thickness; shell mass and kernel mass were recorded. The oil content per kernel was also estimated using solvent extraction method. All the characters except width of seed were found to be significantly different among various cross combination. Length of the seed was maximum in (3.63cm) in 9×C1001 of Costa Rica; width of seed, shell mass and kernel mass were maximum in Deli × Lame combination. Lowest width of the seed was found in 18C×2501 PNG combination and shell mass was in Deli × Ekona. Highest oil/kernel was recorded in 12×266 of Palode which had kernel mass on per with Deli × Lame. Lowest oil/kernel were recorded in 9C×1001 of Papua New Guinea and 1M-0069D× P of Ivory Coast. Hence, available variation for nut and kernel can be effectively utilized for selection since heritability for this trait is very high.