Evaluation of the Morphological Quality of Hybrid Seeds and the Vegetative Development of Plants from the Two Reproductive Systems of Elite Dura Genitors from Oil Palm (Elaeisguineensis Jacq) Seed Fields in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

The production of quality oil palm plant material (Elaeisguineensis Jacq.) necessarily involves the creation of seed fields made up of elite Dura parents. Two methods of reproduction of these elite Duragenitors were adopted for the establishment of current seed fields by the National Center for Agronomic Research (CNRA). The first group is made up of elite first-cycle parents who have undergone two successive generations of [(G1) AF] AF type self-fertilization, noted AFAF. The second group is composed of genitors having undergone a prior self-fertilization followed by AFSIB-type recombination cycle of recombination between genitors of the type (G1 × G2) AF, noted AFSIB. This study involves evaluation of morphological quality of seeds from the two breeding systems of the parents and their quality of vegetative development. For this, the seeds from 553 Dura parents distributed among eight (8) descendants and grouped within the category C1001 F were used.The resultsderived from this study have shown that the seeds obtained from the parents through double self-fertilization of AFAF-type parents are characterized by a thin shell and a high percentage of germination. After the elimination of the abnormal plants at the end of the nursery, various traits viz.circumference at the crown, height of the plants and the number of leaves emitted from the plants on the healthy plants showed that the plants resulting from the seeds obtained from self-fertilization followed by AFSIB-type recombination showed good vegetative development and vigor compared to those of AFAF type respectively.