44 TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCT NEWS
INTRODUCING ORION BIOSAINS DNA TESTING AND THE IMPACT IT HAS ON THE OIL PALM INDUSTRY
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Background Information:
ue to the fact that tenera palms produce 30-36% more oil than dura palms , the purity of oil palm planting materials is crucial for plantation companies to maximize oil extraction rates at the CPO mill and thereby achieve peak operating profit. The standard process for the production of oil palm planting materials involves carefully controlled crosses of dura (maternal palms – with 70% yield) and pisifera (paternal palms – with little to no yield) to generate high-yielding hybrid tenera seed (with 100% yield). However, absolute control of this breeding process is difficult, resulting in the unintended planting of palms that will produce non-tenera fruits with suboptimal yield. Therefore the planting of contaminant non-tenera palms decreases the plantation’s
financial performance for the entire 20 to 30 year life of newly planted material. SureSawit™ Shell Enables Near 100%
Tenera Planting:
With the recent completion of the oil palm genome sequence and the discovery of the SHELL gene by the MPOB and Orion, it is now possible to utilize DNA testing to enable near 100% tenera plantings. Orion Biosains SDN BHD offers SureSawit™ SHELL screening services, the first DNA-based oil palm seedling purity test in the world. This innovative service was recently identified by the BBC as one of the 8 most innovative technologies developed in the world in 2016 (http://www.bbc.com/news/ business-36244547). The service enables seed producers, growers and plantation owners to identify and confirm the
ASIA PALM OIL MAGAZINE | October - December 2016
fruit-form of palm seedlings as early as the pre-nursery stage. Therefore upon receiving screened planting materials, plantations can be assured that the seedlings they plant in the field will be near 100% tenera and will produce optimal yield. SureSawit SHELL Screening Test The SureSawit SHELL screening test consists of a sample collection kit, semi-automated DNA isolation and high through-put genotyping. Using a patent pending leaf sample collection device, nursery or plantation workers can easily and quickly collect leaf samples and tag the trees. These samples are sent to Orion Biosains’ cutting edge testing laboratory where they are processed and a confidential report is generated informing the customer which trees are dura, pisifera or tenera.
