Patent for palm oil process to boost yield

Sumatra Bioscience has announced that it has developed the first process to produce F1 oil palm hybrid seeds. The term F1 refers to the first-generation offspring of two closely related plants.

F1 hybrids have already been achieved in many other crops such as oil seed rape, sunflower, sugar beet and rice, as well as in fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants.

However the research and development center, which is based in Indonesia, said progress with oil palms has been slow due to the lack of any method to produce genetically uniform (homozygous) oil palms, which are the parent plants.

This was because commonly used methods to produce homozygous lines in other crops were not feasible with oil palms as a result of its breeding system and long generation time.

A patent from the European Patent Office (EPO) was published on September 24, 2008, potentially allowing it to become the first commercial producer of F1 oil palm hybrids.

A company spokesperson said that Sumatra Bioscience and the EPO are unaware of any other R&D centers succeeding in oil palm F1 hybridisation.

When it secures the patent, other seed producers will have to gain a license to produce F1 seed in the countries where the patent has been registered. Sumatra said it must decide which of the over 120 Patent Co-operative Treaty Countries to file this patent with over the next 12 months.

Bryan Dyer, director of Sumatra Bioscience, which is part of the oil producer Lonsum and focuses on crops including rubber and cocoa, said: “This is a major breakthrough for the global oil palm industry because increasing yields per unit area of land will reduce the pressure to use more land for oil palm cultivation. ​

“While F1 hybrids have been achieved in many other food crops, it is the first time anyone has come close to doing the same for oil palm.​

“We believe that our F1 oil palm hybrids will offer unrivalled value for oil palm plantations and farmers.”​

Sumatra believes that they will result in less land being needed for crop cultivation which could help alleviate the escalating global food shortage crisis.

A versatile crop​

Oil palms are tropical trees grown for their fruit which are used to process palm oil - a form of vegetable oil.

They are used as an ingredient for food and have become a popular replacement for trans fats. They are also used in cosmetics and companies have started choosing the oil as a biofuel.

F1 hybrid seed is produced from two distinctly different oil palm parental lines. Each parent has two sets of genetically identical chromosomes and, therefore, the F1 hybrid seed is genetically uniform. This results in an increase in yield because of hybrid vigour.

A spokesperson said: “F1 oil palm hybrids have the potential to triple yields without involving genetic modification and therefore the supply of palm oil will increase. ​

“In addition to increasing yield, there is the potential to select and release F1 hybrid varieties which will have specific oil profiles to meet the demands of a range of niche markets.”​

Oil prices ​

They added that the planting of F1 hybrid varieties would increase yields per unit area, increasing supply, which should contribute to the continuing long term decline in palm oil prices.

Edible oil prices had been riding high but they have dropped sharply over the last three months. The price of Palm oils has fallen by 35 per cent since June after reaching a peak of $1300 a ton in April this year.

Sumatra Bioscience expects to commercialize the production of F1 oil palm hybrids by 2018. It aims to market at least 30 different hybrid varieties at any one time. In line with this it will invest US$5 million to increase R&D activities.

Other companies are also looking to increased yields, such as the US-based Synthetic Genomics and the Asiatic Centre for Genome Technology, which announced a joint venture last year to develop more high-yielding and disease-resistant crops.

There has been mounting pressure on companies to achieve more sustainable palm oil production recently as environmental campaigners claim it contributes to the destruction of Indonesian forests and peatlands, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and damaging habitats for animals.

Stephen Nelson, director of research at Sumatra Bioscience, said: “Sumatra Bioscience is firmly committed to F1 oil palm hybrids as they are more economically viable and environmentally sustainable.”​