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Selecting the best oil palm cultivars adapted to specific agro-climatic conditions helps ensure fruit and oil production success. Many biotic and abiotic problems can limit the productivity of the crop, some of which have not yet been described, as well as their symptoms and degree of impact. In oil palm, a disturbance known as leaf-bending occurs, in which the palms present a bending or breakage of the petiole in the leaves, representing a significant challenge for oil palm cultivation. Although leaf-bending in oil palm plantations is known, its effect on the palm's performance and its possible causes are unknown. Thus, the objectives of the present work were to describe and propose a quantitative way to evaluate leaf-bending in different cultivars (Elaeis guineensis Jacq. and the interspecific O×G hybrid) and to evaluate the disturbance effect on the physiology and nutritional balance of the oil palm. The results showed that most leaves from leaf rings three and four of the palm phyllotaxis have the highest affectation, with 74% leaf-bending. The cultivars with a Deli × La Mé and Coarí × La Mé genetic background were the most tolerant; however, the Deli × AVROS and Deli × Yangambi genetic crosses were the most susceptible. The difference in the affectation between the groups was 60% to 70%. Leaf-bending affected physiological parameters such as photosynthesis, transpiration, and stomatal conductance. Thus, below the second ring of leaves, the affected plants' physiological parameters decreased between 40% and 50%. The nutritional diagnosis showed that the most sensitive cultivars to leaf-bending were Deli × AVROS, which presented the highest average index of nutritional balance (IBNm), indicating that this genetic cross had the highest nutritional imbalance. On the contrary, the most tolerant cultivars were Deli × La Mé, which presented the lowest IBNm, associated with a better nutritional condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low annual growth rate of the stipe in oil palm progenies is desirable to increase these crops' productive and economic life. Recurrent reciprocal selection (R.R.S.) has allowed the development of oil palm populations through several breeding cycles with an increased frequency of favorable alleles associated with traits of interest. The present study evaluated families derived from Deli dura × African dura crosses. For 12 years, the yield, vegetative characteristics, and the amount of oil in seven dura progenies were assessed to estimate, from the information collected, the genetic parameters, heritability, and phenotypic correlations among quantitative genetic traits of high-yielding dwarf progenies. The analysis was carried out using analysis of variance, followed by a comparison of means for all estimated traits. The effect of the progenies was highly significant (p ≤ 0.01) for most traits. The yield values, expressed in fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for the progenies, ranged from 165 to 208 kg per palm per year. The oil-to-bunch ratio (O/B) ranged from 17% to 19%, with an overall average of 18%. One of the essential characteristics in this study was the vertical growth of the stipe. Progenies P6 and P7 were identified as those with the lowest annual increase in height, with values of 0.29 and 0.33 m year−1. The values indicate that these are slow-growing cultivars with a high FFB yield and O/B. The highest heritabilities were found for the vegetative trait height (71.62%) and the number of leaflets (46.64%). The development of dura parents with slow growth characteristics in combination with a high bunch and oil production allows extending the productive life of the crop to more than 35 years, providing added value to obtaining differentiated cultivars of oil palm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bud rot is a limiting disease that affects most oil palm crops destroying thousands of hectares in Latin America. Bud rot (BR) is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora palmivora (Butler). Integrated disease management (IDM) technology has been used to control the disease, which slows down the progress of the disease, allowing palm recovery. However, the effect of this technology on the recovery speed of treated palms is not well known. We studied the time taken for palm recovery from BR under the integrated management approach. The study was carried out on 21 oil palm commercial cultivars dura × pisifera (D × P) and O × G hybrids affected by BR in the Colombian oil palm Central Zone. The analysis included different recovery times (RT), the severity degree, time of the year (wet or dry season), number of reinfections, and cultivar. The RT of bud rot-affected palms ranges from 103 to 315 days, with an average of 202.8 days when an IDM is used. RT was lower than that reported in the diseased palms without IDM (540 days). According to the severity degree, the RT lasted 202 days for severity degree 1, 198 days for severity degree 2, and 222 with severity degree 3 and 4. In comparison, there was no significant difference between dry and rainy seasons in RT. Differences between cultivars were found; however, under IDM, all cultivars showed low RT. The IDM has a positive impact in reducing the RT to BR. Low RT has indirect effects minimizing potential yield losses, improving the number of successfully recovered palms, and reducing the risk of disease dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]