What is a F1 hybrid oil palm seed? How is this different from the conventional oil palm seed?
The F1 hybrid oil palm seed is the first generation offspring of two distinctly different genetically uniform / homozygous parents, which results in significantly higher yields without genetic modification. This is a major breakthrough for the global oil palm industry because it increases yields per unit area of land, which will reduce the pressure to use scarce resources for oil palm cultivation. This is beneficial to the environment and will mitigate the impacts of global warming. The European Patent Office has published a Patent Application by Sumatra Bioscience on its process to produce F1 oil palm hybrids. The patentable process is the first of its kind and thereby potentially allowing it to become the first commercial producer of F1 oil palm hybrids.
