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The History and Economic Importance of the Oil Palm

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The Oil Palm Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

Oil palm is a remarkable crop which in 2017 produced 34% of the world’s vegetable oil from 0.36% of the world’s agricultural land. The fact that it is a perennial ‘tree’ crop growing in the humid tropics under high light intensity accounts for the tenfold advantage in oil yield it has over many annual temperate oil crops, per hectare, per year. However, slow breeding cycles in a manually intensive industry are beginning to erode this advantage, and the challenges of climate change have yet to be addressed. The history, economic importance and how research has been applied to improve the productivity and value of the oil palm are reviewed, along with some of the future challenges which research needs to address.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 5RD, UK

    Sean Mayes

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  1. Sean Mayes
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Correspondence to Sean Mayes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Kajang, Malaysia

    Maizura Ithnin

  2. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Kajang, Malaysia

    Ahmad Kushairi

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Mayes, S. (2020). The History and Economic Importance of the Oil Palm. In: Ithnin, M., Kushairi, A. (eds) The Oil Palm Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22549-0_1

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