Overview

Oil palm is the most productive oil bearing crop in the world and an economically important crop for Malaysia. Palm oil contributes some 40% of global oils and fats trade and the supplies are expected to triple by 2050. Enhancing the productivity of oil palm through breeding and biotechnology is one of the approaches to cater global demand. Formal oil palm breeding started some 100 years ago despite the narrow genetic base. Oil palm gene pool in Malaysia was widen through series of germplasm collections in its centres of origin in Africa and Latin America.

Currently the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) housed the world’s largest oil palm germplasm collection. The genetic collections facilitated the development of high productivity novel planting materials such as dwarf, high bunch and oil yields. In biotechnology, MPOB made a major breakthrough by sequencing the oil palm genome, which allows the identification of genes influencing important agronomic traits, namely shell, fruit color and clonal abnormality. These form the basis for the development of molecular diagnostic kits for breeding efficiency. Cloning for mass propagation of improved agronomic traits is progressing well. Some clones showed desirable results in field trials. Regeneration of oil palm through single cell culture helps in genetic modification with the objectives to increase oleic acid and other fatty acids in palm oil.

Speaker

Dr. Ahmad Parveez - Deputy Director General, Research & Development of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)

Dr. Ahmad Parveez is currently Deputy Director General, Research & Development of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). He was also the Chairman of Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC) under the National Biosafety Board, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, from 25 May 2010 – 24 May 2018 (4th term). He also was appointed as Fellow of Academy Science Malaysia in 2016. He has 29 years of experience in Plant Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering and Biosafety. He developed transgenic oil palm in 1997. His interest is in genetic modification of oil palm for novel value added products as well as in biosafety of living modified organisms (LMO). He has obtained a number of awards both locally and internationally. He has 13 patents filed and six (6) of them have been granted. He has authored and co-authored almost 70 papers in refereed journals.

The material presented has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.