Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, naturally present in small amounts in vegetable oils. It consists of eight tocopherol and tocotrienol isomers, namely, α-, β-, γ-, δ-tocopherols and tocotrienols. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant and plays an important role in the stabilization of oils and fats. Vitamin E components in palm oil especially γ- and […]

Oil yield (OY) is the most important selection criteria in breeding improvement programme. One way to increase OY is through increasing the bunch index (BI) besides increasing the oil to bunch ratio. BI is derived from the ratio of bunch dry matter to total dry matter production (BDM/BDM+VDM). Estimation of the parameter requires the measurement […]

Stearoyl-ACP desaturase (SAD) is an important fatty acid biosynthetic enzyme responsible for the production of oleic acid. It is a soluble enzyme in the plastid which introduces a cis double bond into saturated stearoyl-ACP (18:0-ACP) at the ∆9 position to produce mono-unsaturated oleoyl-ACP (18:1-ACP) (Figure 1). It has an important housekeeping role for producing unsaturated […]

Novel palm oil compositions are needed to meet the demand of the expanding oil business and changing market requirements. Genetic engineering provides the opportunity to diversify the use and improve the economic value of palm oil. Reported successes in changing fatty acid compositions in other crops provide examples of how in vitro gene technology can […]

Malaysia is facing an acute shortage of agricultural land. One of the alternatives is to go for marginal areas such as hilly land and peat. Through R&D, these areas can be cultivated with oil palm with good returns in spite of high development cost. In the hilly areas, oil palm planted on terraces is much […]