The Occurance of Oil Palm Weevil, Elaeidobius Kamerunicus (Order Coleoptera)

THE OCCURANCE OF OIL PALM WEEVIL, Elaeidobius kamerunicus (ORDER: COLEOPTERA) AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF OIL PALM, Elaeis guineensis (FAMILY: ARECACEAE)

Siti Khadijah Bt Abdul Khalid (28244)

Bachelor of Science with Honours Animal Resource Science and Management 2013 THE OCCURANCE OF OIL PALM WEEVIL, Elaeidobius kamerunicus (Order: Coleoptera) AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF OIL PALM, Elaeis guineensis (Family: Arecaceae)

A project is submitted to partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Science with Honours (Animal Resource Science and Management)

Department of Zoology Faculty of Resource Science and Technology UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK 2013

Declaration

I hereby declare that the thesis is based on my original work except for citation which has been duly acknowledgement. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted for any other degree qualification at UNIMAS or any others institution or university of higher learning.

______

Siti Khadijah Bt Abdul Khalid Animal Resources Sciences and Management Program Department of Zoology Faculty of Resources Sciences and Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, praise to Allah S.W.T for giving me inner strength to continue pursuing my research work despite the hardship faced. Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude towards my supervisor, Dr. Chong Yee Ling for all the guidance, advices and support throughout the process of completing this thesis. My appreciation also to Miss Siti Nurlydia bt Sazali@Piksin and Professor Sulaiman B Hanapi for sharing their valuable information and thoughts.

Besides that, I also liked to thank the Felcra Berhad for their permission to conduct my field work in Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation. My gratitude also addressed to all workers in Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation for proving guidance, facilities and materials during the sampling.

Moreover, my gratitude is also express to my colleagues, Nor Azlini Bt Mat Isahak Zaki and Nur Aini Bt Mohd Nasri during sampling at the field and encouragement as well as companies. In additional, I would like to thank to all my friends form Department of Zoology, Department of Plant and my housemate for all the support and guidance during my ups and downs.

Above and beyond, I would like to give special thanks to the angel of my heart, Shazana Zawani, Shahrul Ikhwan, Mohd Effandy, Mohammad Najib and Khairul Liza for all the encouragement and support given.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERS CONTENTS PAGES ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I TABLE OF CONTENTS II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV LIST OF TABLES V LIST OF FIGURES VI LIST OF APPENDICES VIII ABSTARCT 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION 2 1.1 Background of study 2

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 5 2.1 Pollination 5 2.1.1 Insect pollination of oil palm 5 2.2 The potential of E. kamerunicus as 6 pollinators in Malaysia 2.3 Oil palm weevil, E. kamerunicus 7 2.4 The African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis 9 Jacq. 2.4.1 Descriptions of Elaeis guineensis 10 2.4.2 Inflorescences 12 2.4.3 Fruiting 13 2.5 The productivity of oil palm 14 2.6 Previous studies on pollinator and oil palm 17 production.

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 18 3.1 Study site 18

3.2 Field method and sample collection 19 3.3 Data analysis 24

4.0 RESULTS 25 4.1 The occurrences of male flowers 25 inflorescence during anthesis and oil palm weevil, E. kamerunicus in Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation. 4.2 The harvest of the fresh fruit bunch (FFB) in 27 Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation. 4.3 The correlation between the prevalence of 29 E.kamerunicus and the yield of oil palm in Bangka Semong oil palm plantation.

5.0 DISCUSSION 32 5.1 The occurrences of the oil palm weevil, 32 E.kamerunicus 5.2 Numbers of spikelet per bunch of male 34 flower inflorescences with anthesis 5.3 The productivity of oil palm in Bangka 35 Semong Oil Palm Plantation.

6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES 45

III

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FFB Fresh Fruit Bunch

CPO Crude Palm Oil

CPKO Crude Palm Kernel Oil

FELCRA Federal Land Consolidation and

Rehabilitation Authority

One –way ANOVA One- way analysis of variance

SPSS Statistical Package for the

Social Sciences

HQ Head quarters

M Meter

Cm Centimeter

Mm Millimeter

% Percentage

Kg Kilogram

G Gram

LIST OF TABLES

Table Pages

Table 4.1 Oil palm weevil, E. kamerunicus on the male 27

flowers during anthesis.

Table 4.2 The harvest of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) at different 29

blocks in Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure Pages

Figure 2.1 Lateral view of E. kamerunicus 8

Figure 2.2 African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) at Bangka 10

Semong Oil Palm Plantation.

Figure 2.3 The different types of fruit varieties (a) Dura, (b) 12

Tenera and (c) Pisifera.

Figure 2.4 Male and female inflorescences at stages of 13

development (a) The male inflorescences before

anthesis, (b) the male inflorescences during anthesis,

and (c) the female flowers during anthesis.

Figure 2.5 Oil palm fruits (a) The cross section of oil palm fruit, 14

(b) the bunch of fruit that is ready to be harvested.

Figure 3.1 Study site at Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation in 18

Kota Samarahan, Sarawak

Figure 3.2 Blocks (A-J) division at Bangka Semong Oil Palm 19

Plantation. HQ indicates the main office for the

plantation area.

Figure 3.3 Sampling plot at each block. 20

Figure 3.4 Measuring the diameter of the FFB. 21

Figure 3.5 Collecting and calculating the weevil on male flowers 21

Figure 3.6 Materials used to calculate the weevil (a) 70% of 22

ethanol for preservation, (b) filter paper, (c)

magnification lens and (d) plastic bottles.

Figure 3.7 The male (a) and female (b) weevil under the 22

microscope

Figure 3.8 The colony of the weevil in spikelet on male flower (a) 23

early anthesis period and (b) late anthesis period

Figure 4.1 Scattered plots show (a) The correlation between 30

numbers of spikelet and the numbers of weevil, (b) The

correlation between the numbers of FFB per tree and

the numbers of weevil, (c) The correlation between

average diameter of FFB and the numbers of weevil.

VII

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Pages

Appendix A

Appendix 1 Data collection for Plot G1 from Bangka Semong oil 45

palm plantation on 23 February 2013, 2.05 pm. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 2 Data collection for Plot G2 from Bangka Semong oil 47

palm plantation on 24 February 2013, 12.35 pm. The

weather of condition is raining.

Appendix 3 Data collection for Plot G3 from Bangka Semong oil 49

palm plantation on 23 February 2013, 10.20 am. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 4 Data collection for Plot A1 from Bangka Semong oil 51

palm plantation on 2 March 2013, 9.30 am. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 5 Data collection for Plot A2 from Bangka Semong oil 53

palm plantation on 2 March 2013, 1.35 pm. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 6 Data collection for Plot A3 from Bangka Semong oil 55

palm plantation on 3 March 2013, 9.50 am. The

weather of condition is cloudy

Appendix 7 Data collection for Plot F1 from Bangka Semong oil 57

palm plantation on 3 March 2013, 2.20 pm. The

VIII

weather of condition is cloudy.

Appendix 8 Data collection for Plot F2 from Bangka Semong oil 59

palm plantation on 9 March 2013, 9.50 am. The

weather of condition is cloudy.

Appendix 9 Data collection for Plot F3 from Bangka Semong oil 62

palm plantation on 9 March 2013, 2.30 pm. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 10 Data collection for Plot D1 from Bangka Semong oil 65

palm plantation on 10

March 2013, 9.25 am. The weather of condition is

sunny day.

Appendix 11 Data collection for Plot D2 from Bangka Semong oil 68

palm plantation on 10 March 2013, 12.35 pm. The

weather of condition is sunny day.

Appendix 12 Data collection for Plot D3 from Bangka Semong oil 71

palm plantation on 16 March 2013, 2.05 pm. The

weather of condition is raining.

Appendix B

Appendix 13 Normality Test for (a) total numbers of weevil and 74

(b) total numbers of spikelet

Appendix 14 Mann-Whitney U Test for 95.5% Confident Interval 75

for (a) Numbers of weevil and (b) 95.5% Confident

Interval for Numbers of spikelet per bunch.

Appendix 15 One-way ANOVA and Tukey Method for Numbers 76

of FFB

Appendix 16 One-way ANOVA and Tukey Method for Average 78

diameter of FFB

Appendix 17 Spearman Correlation analysis for numbers of 80

spikelet against the numbers of pollinator

Appendix 18 Spearman Correlation analysis for average numbers 80

of fresh fruit bunch against the numbers of pollinator

Appendix 19 Spearman Correlation analysis for numbers of fresh 80

fruit bunch against the numbers of pollinator

Appendix 20 Print screen of correlation test using the (a) Minitab 81

16 and (b) SPSS 17.0

Appendix C

Appendix 21 The data collection and recorded based on the 82

condition in the Bangka Semong oil palm plantation;

(a) the dorsal view of FFB that have been damages by

pest, (b) the dorsal view of ripe FFB that have in oil

palm plantation, (c) the dorsal view of female

inflorescence before anthesis, (d) the dorsal view of

the female inflorescences at anthesis stage of

development, (e) the lateral view of the male

inflorencences at before anthesis stage of

developmen, (f) the lateral view of the male

inflorescences during anthesis stage of development,

(g) the view of the no production tree of fruits and male inflorescences,(h) the view of the production tree contains FFB, (i)The view of the tree that are affected by pest and disease, (j) The condition of the tree cause by the pest and disease,(k) another condition of the tree also cause by the pest and disease, (l) the lateral view of the incomplete pollination occur in several tree, and (m) the view of the potted seedling in plantation.

The Occurrence of Oil Palm Weevil, Elaeidobius kamerunicus (Order: Coleoptera) and The Productivity of Oil Palm, Elaeis guineensis (Family: Arecaceae)

Siti Khadijah Bt Abdul Khalid

Animal Resource and Management Programme Faculty of Science and Technology Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

ABSTRACT

Malaysia has the most developed oil palm industry in the world and this affects the overall agriculture development of the country. The oil palm tree in Malaysia is Elaeis guineensis (African oil palm) and the main pollinating agent is Elaeidobius kamerunicus (oil palm weevil). This study was conducted in Bangka Semong oil palm plantation, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak to verify the occurrence of E. kamerunicus in response to the productivity of oil palm. The result from this study showed that there is a low occurrence of male flower inflorescences that anthesis (<1%) from 660 oil palm trees sampled. The occurrence of oil palm weevil is higher in block F compared to A (Mann-Whitney U test). The numbers of fresh fruit bunches sampled were significant different comparing four different blocks (one-way ANOVA). The numbers of weevil presence is positively correlated with the numbers of spikelet based on Spearman Rank Correlation test. However, there are no linear relationships between the presence of weevils and the number of fresh fruit bunches or the average diameter of fruit bunches. The findings of this study could provide the useful information on the relationship between the occurrence of oil palm weevil and productivity. In addition, this study can serve as reference for future studies and knowledge on the biology of these insects which is vital for better management of oil palm yields.

Keywords: Elaeidobius kamerunicus, Elaeis guineensis, pollinator agents, occurrence of weevil, productivity of oil palm

ABSTRAK

Malaysia mempunyai industri kelapa sawit paling maju di dunia dan ini memberi kesan kepada pembangunan pertanian secara keseluruhan di negara ini. Pokok kelapa sawit di Malaysia adalah Elaeis guineensis (kelapa sawit Afrika) dan ejen utama pendebungaan adalah Elaeidobius kamerunicus (kumbang kelapa sawit). Kajian ini telah dijalankan di ladang kelapa sawit Bangka Semong, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak untuk mengesahkan jumlah E. kamerunicus dan produktiviti kelapa sawit. Hasil kajian menunjukkan pendebungaan bunga jantan adalah rendah (<1%) dari 660 batang pokok kelapa sawit. Jumlah kumbang kelapa sawit didapati tinggi di blok F berbanding blok A (Mann-Whitney U test). Bilangan tandan buah segar berbeza signifikan berbanding empat blok yang lain (One-Way ANOVA). Bilangan kumbang yang hadir berkorelasi positif dengan bilangan spikelet berdasarkan kepada Spearman Rank Correlation test. Walaubagaimanapun, tiada hubungan selari antara kehadiran kumbang dan bilangan tandan buah segar atau purata diameter tandan buah. Hasil kajian ini boleh memberikan maklumat yang berguna mengenai hubungan antara kumbang kelapa sawit dan produktiviti. Selain itu, penyelidikan ini boleh dijadikan sebagai rujukan untuk kajian masa depan dan memberi pengetahuan mengenai biologi serangga yang penting untuk pengurusan hasil kelapa sawit yang lebih baik.

Kata kunci: Elaeidobius kamerunicus, Elaeis guineensis, agen pendebungaan, jumlah kumbang, penghasilan kelapa sawit

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

Over the past 30 years, the area for the plantation of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis

Jacq.) has increased more than 150% worldwide. Most of these areas are located in

Southeast Asia, with the outstanding production increases in Malaysia and Indonesia

(Fairhurst & Mutent, 1999). Nowadays, the oil palm industry has become the major source of income that contributes to the politics and socio-economic stabilization in

Malaysia. This has been proven during the World Economy Crash between 1997 and

1998, when the oil palm industry saved Malaysia from being dependent on other countries for survival (MPOIP, 2008). According to Corley & Tinker (2003),

Malaysia is one of the countries that have the oldest oil palm industry in the world and the development is rapidly moves.

Interaction between the pollinator and host plant can have an important influence on the dynamics of the production of fruit (Mitchell et al., 2009; Adaigbe et al., 2011).

The oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq., is considered as entomophilous crop which belonged to the family Arecaceae (also known as Palmae). According to Syed

(1981), there are ten species of insects that were identified to benefit the oil palm plantation in West Africa and these species are Elaeidobius kamerunicus,

Elaeidobius singularis, Elaeidobius subvittatus, Mystrops coastaricensis, Thrips hawaiilensis and some bee species.

As an erect monoecious plant, oil palm produces separate male and female flowers on the same plant and they are cross-pollinated (Corley & Tinker, 2003; Verheye,

2010). According to Syed (1979), E. kamerunicus, from the Order of Coleoptera

(beetles), is the main pollinating weevil of the oil palm. It is the only live beetle in oil palm flowers and will flies from male flowers to female flowers (Corley & Tinker,

2003). In order to improve the pollination efficiency of oil palm, E. kamerunicus was the first imported beetles species from Cameroon, West Africa to the oil palm plantation in Malaysia (Mohd Basri et al., 1983).

Before the existence of this weevil, Lespesme (1946), Alibert (1945) and Beirnaert

(1935) believed that insect is not essential in pollination of oil palm and the oil palm was mainly pollinated by wind. Pollination failures may relate with a low proportion of male inflorescences during the pollination (Corley & Tinker, 2003). In 1948,

Henry suggested that insects may have played some part during the pollination, although they are not required for pollination (Corley & Tinker, 2003). According to

Siregar (2006), weevils are host-specific and their adaptation depended on the seasons, whether it is summer or rain. These weevils were also capable on transferring pollens in the same quantities in young or old crop. On the other hand,

Syed (1979) found that the oil palm was mainly pollinated by the insects and the wind played only some part in pollination based on his study in Malaysia and

Cameroon.

The production of the fruit bunch of oil palm and the value of the fruit set are affected by the several factors. According to the Harun & Noor (2002), the changes in the population of the E. kamerunicus was affected by the production and fruit set

3 of the fruit bunch. When the population of the weevils increased, the production of the fruit increased and vice versa. Based on Hutauruk & Syukur (1985) and

Ponnamma (1999), when the population densities of E. kamerunicus increased in around 20,000 per hectare, it increased the value of the fruit set from 36.9 % to 78.3

% and the good fruit set value was above 75%. According to Donough et al. (1996), the weevil population was correlated with fruit set which was in turn correlated with the male inflorescences numbers. Apart from pollinator, there are others factors that contribute to the production of fruits such as climate change, soil, fertilizer, and harvesting management (Corley & Tinker, 2003; Sunarko, 2007). According to

Corley & Tinker (2003), natality, mortality and migration of the weevils can cause fluctuation on the population of the weevil. The introduction of the weevil as an effective pollinator in 1970s, this successfully ended the costly and inefficient hand pollination process and resulted in the increase in yields in many oil palms producing regions (Fairhurst & Mutent, 1999).

This study was done with the objective to investigate the occurrence of oil palm weevil, E. kamerunicus and correlation with the productivity of oil palm, E. guineensis. There have been many studies done on the numbers of spikelet, fruit weight and others parameter such as temperature and soil condition to determine the productivity of oil palm. However, no study has been done to investigate the relationship between the pollinator and the fruit productivity based on the diameter and the numbers of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB).

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Pollination

The process of transferring pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another or the same flower is called pollination (Kevan, 1999). According to

Sparnaaij (1969), pollination of oil palm can occur through weevils or wind.

Pollination is the first step in the reproductive process of plants after production of the sexual organs. Pollination occurs by wind, water and gravity is known as abiotic pollination while pollination that is facilitated by the animals is known as biotic pollination (Kevan, 1999). According to Risza (2006), the pollination of the oil palm can also be done through human assistance. The animals or the flowers visitors which feed on flowers also known as anthophiles, which mean they seek the pollen, nectar, oil and floral tissue for food (Kevan, 1999). Some specialized flowers provide profit (i.e. pollen) for their specialized pollinators and become host to certain species of insect (Bernhardt & Thien, 1987).

2.1.1 Insect pollination of oil palm

Insects are the most important pollinators in plant, especially the bee species. Others groups of insects (e.g. moths and beetles) also help in plant pollination (Chiu, 1984;

Kevan, 1999). Animals that can pollinate the plants are called pollinators. In the good old days, the pollinator of oil palm in Malaysia was Thrips hawaiiensis,

5 although it was present, it had apparently not adapted to the oil palm and does not fully contributed to pollination because they were absent from young plantings.

Other than that, some pollen was dispersed by micromoth, Pyroderces sp (Tan &

Basri Wahid, 1985). Micromoth, Pyroderces sp and T. hawaiiensis is the pollinating agents for oil palm before the introduction of E. kamerunicus into West Malaysia

(Syed, 1979, 1981; Sipayung & Soedharto, 1982). Even though T. hawaiiensis is the pollinator, it was not efficient in pollinating because it has minimum pollination activity under the cloudy and raining day (Corley & Tinker, 2003). In Sabah, hand pollination of young palms was necessary because there is no T. hawaiiensis and only a few other insects were found in the oil palm (Chiu, 1984).

2.2 The potential of E. kamerunicus as pollinator in Malaysia.

In Cameroon, Syed (1982) initiated the study of life cycle and host specificity of three species of Elaeidobius which has potential to be introduced into Malaysia. The three species were Elaeidobius kamerunicus, Elaeidobius subvittatus and

Elaeidobius plagiatus. He determined whether the Elaeidobius spp. could be used to pollinate the oil palm and to ensure that the weevil do not damage the oil palm or other plants (Syed, 1982). He found out that the entire weevils did not oviposit on the others flowers but only to oil palm. During the receptivity, the weevil carried the pollens and visited the female inflorescences and did not injure the female flowers or the fruits. Syed (1982) concluded that three weevils are safe to be introduced to

Malaysia and E. kamerunicus is the most suitable weevil to pollinate the oil palm because of its ability to pollinate in wet and dry seasons and carried more pollen compare to the other species.

The person that responsible in introducing the pollinating weevil, E. kamerunicus into Malaysia is Dr. R.A. Syed in 1979 at Cameroon (Chiu, 1984). During that time, he found a dozen species of insects visited both the male and female flowers during anthesis of the oil palm. The species that affect the pollination process is E. kamerunicus (Corley & Tinker, 2003). The first batch of E. kamerunicus was imported into Malaysia in July 1980 by Unilever, which is the multinational company with oil palm plantation in Cameroon and Malaysia (Mohd Basri et al.,

1983). During the quarantine, Malaysian Department of Agriculture carried out host specificity test on the weevil and the result was comparable to study by Syed (1982).

After the quarantine period, this weevil was released to the Pamol and Mamol

Estates on February 1981 near Kluang, Johore and after a month later at Pamol

Estate in Sabah (Syed, 1982). The weevil had been introduced and has been spread to all oil palm estate in Malaysia by April 1982 (Mohd Basri et al., 1983).

2.3 The oil palm weevil, E. Kamerunicus

Scientific classification of oil palm weevil (Figure 2.1):

Kingdom : Animalia Phylum : Arthropoda Class : Insecta Order : Coleoptera Family : Curculionidae Genus : Elaeidobius Species : Elaeidobius kamerunicus

Figure 2.1 Lateral view of E. kamerunicus (Source: http://www.padil.gov.au)

The morphological characters of the E.kamerunicus include a dark brown body in which the body is divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They have a pair of wings in the thorax: the tick wings called ‘elytra’ and the membranous thin wings. There are size differences between a male and female weevil in which the male is bigger compare to female. The average size of the adult is between 1.8 to 4.0 mm (O’Brien & Woodruff, 1986). The male weevil has shorter proboscis or the mouthpart than female. Others than that, the body appearance of the male weevils is more hairy compare to female (Harumi, 2011). At the end of the elytra, the male weevils have marginal setae which are not found in female (O’Brien & Woodruff,

1986; Kurniawan, 2010).

According to Syed (1982), the duration period for the weevil to develop from egg to adult is between seven to 14 days in the field and the average of the adult longevity is from 15 to 17 days. In another study by Tuo et al. (2011), the average of life expectancy for the E. kamerunicus is 59.18 ± 8.53 days and for the life cycle time was 10.27 ± 0.34 days. The life cycle of the female is around 65 days and for male is

46 days (Arif et al., 2009). The adult weevil is attracted to both male and female inflorescences by the strong aniseed smell (Corley & Tinker, 2003; Susanto et al.,

2007). Although this weevil is specific to oil palm, the adult could survive on

Eugenia aqueous flowers (only for one week) and Cocoa nucifera flowers (only for two weeks) but not oviposit. Against these all plant species, the weevil only attracted to the flowers of E. guineensis because the flower provided the food and become host to the weevil (Corley & Tinker, 2003). According to Adaigbe et al.

(2011), E. kamerunicus were able to differentiate host and non-host species through the olfactory response by odour emitted from inflorescences plant. The population of the male and female weevils in the field is 1:2.

According to Tandon et al. (2001), the time visitation of the weevil from the male flowers to female inflorescences started around 7.00 am until 3.00 pm and the maximum activity was observed between 11 to 12 noons. The total visitation frequencies of E. kamerunicus on female inflorescences were 128 weevils per 30 minutes (Anggriani, 2010). This weevil also becomes less active during the raining season or cloudy days and after the downpours (Syed, 1982). The population of the weevils also was lower during the wet season (Syed, 1982).

2.4 The African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq.

Malaysia is one of the countries that have the oldest oil palm industry in the world and the overall development of the country is moving rapidly as well as oil palm plantation (Guerts, 2000). Oil palm is the usual crop of the rainy tropical lowlands.

The trees required a deep soil, light intensity, stable in high temperature and

9 continuous moisture through the year (Verheye, 2010). Dry periods of more than two to three months do not specifically damage vegetative growth but affect the production and quality of the fruit bunches seriously (Verheye, 2010). Oil palm yield is not only determined by the vegetative growth and production but also by the control of pests and diseases (Verheye, 2010).

2.4.1 Descriptions of E. guineensis Jacq.

Oil palm (E. guineensis Jacq.) is derived from three words namely Elaeis, derived from the Greek, word, Elation means oil, guineensis originated from Guinea language (west coast of Africa) and Jacq. came from the name of the American

Botanical, Jacquin (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2 African Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) at Bangka Semong Oil Palm Plantation (Photo credit by Siti Khadijah Bt Abdul Khalid)