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Background: Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) is the most important source of edible oil. The improvement of oil yield is currently slow in conventional breeding programs due to long generation intervals. Marker-assisted selection (MAS) has the potential to accelerate genetic improvement. To identify DNA markers associated with oil content traits for MAS, we performed quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping using genotyping by sequencing (GBS) in a breeding population derived from a cross between Deli Dura and Ghana Pisifera, containing 153 F1 trees. Results: We constructed a high-density linkage map containing 1357 SNPs and 123 microsatellites. The 16 linkage groups (LGs) spanned 1527 cM, with an average marker space of 1.03 cM. One significant and three suggestive QTL for oil to bunch (O/B) and oil to dry mesocarp (O/DM) were mapped on LG1, LG8, and LG10 in a F1 breeding population, respectively. These QTL explained 7.6-13.3% of phenotypic variance. DNA markers associated with oil content in these QTL were identified. Trees with beneficial genotypes at two QTL for O/B showed an average O/B of 30.97%, significantly (P < 0.01) higher than that of trees without any beneficial QTL genotypes (average O/B of 28.24%). QTL combinations showed that the higher the number of QTL with beneficial genotypes, the higher the resulting average O/B in the breeding population. Conclusions: A linkage map with 1480 DNA markers was constructed and used to identify QTL for oil content traits. Pyramiding the identified QTL with beneficial genotypes associated with oil content traits using DNA markers has the potential to accelerate genetic improvement for oil yield in the breeding population of oil palm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oil palm is the world's most productive oil-food crop despite yielding well below its theoretical maximum. This maximum could be approached with the introduction of elite F1 varieties. The development of such elite lines has thus far been prevented by difficulties in generating homozygous parental types for F1 generation. Results: Here we present the first high-throughput screen to identify spontaneously-formed haploid (H) and doubled haploid (DH) palms. We secured over 1,000 Hs and one DH from genetically diverse material and derived further DH/mixoploid palms from Hs using colchicine. We demonstrated viability of pollen from H plants and expect to generate 100% homogeneous F1 seed from intercrosses between DH/mixoploids once they develop female inflorescences. Conclusions: This study has generated genetically diverse H/DH palms from which parental clones can be selected in sufficient numbers to enable the commercial-scale breeding of F1 varieties. The anticipated step increase in productivity may help to relieve pressure to extend palm cultivation, and limit further expansion into biodiverse rainforest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil palm (Elaeis guinensis Jacquin) is the most important source of vegetable oil and fat. Several linkage maps had been constructed using dominant and co-dominant markers to facilitate mapping of QTL. However, dominant markers are not easily transferable among different laboratories. We constructed a consensus linkage map for oil palm using co-dominant markers (i.e. microsatellite and SNPs) and two F1 breeding populations generated by crossing Dura and Pisifera individuals. Four hundreds and forty-four microsatellites and 36 SNPs were mapped onto 16 linkage groups. The map length was 1565.6 cM, with an average marker space of 3.72 cM. A genome-wide scan of QTL identified a major QTL for stem height on the linkage group 5, which explained 51% of the phenotypic variation. Genes in the QTL were predicted using the palm genome sequence and bioinformatic tools. The linkage map supplies a base for mapping QTL for accelerating the genetic improvement, and will be also useful in the improvement of the assembly of the genome sequences. Markers linked to the QTL may be used in selecting dwarf trees. Genes within the QTL will be characterized to understand the mechanisms underlying dwarfing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]