Breaking Seed Dormancy: Revisiting Heat-treatment Duration on Germination and Subsequent Seedling Growth of Oil Palm (Eiaeis guineensis Jacq.) Progenies

The role of duration of various varying heat-treatment durations on the germination of oil palm seeds is welldocumented. We investigated the effects of different heat-treatment durations on germination and seedlinggrowth of 10 oil palm progenies. Batches of 250 oil palm seeds from each progeny were heat-treated at atemperature of 39° C ± 1° C for 60, 80, 100 and 120 days, to break dormancy. Seedling growth parametersmeasured included rate of leaf production, leaf area and relative leaf area growth rate, rate of leaf elongation, and forprogenies A5240 and A5221 (> 80 %) but very low (< 5%) for progenies A5228 and A5268. Progenies A5240, A5291, A5234 and A5221 were found to be the most outstanding progenies in terms of germination. Prolongedheat-treatment resulted in reduced germination and less vigorous seedling growth. Heat-treatment of 60 daysgave the best seedling growth performance and seedling growth was adversely affected when heat-treatmentexceeded 100 days. The study indicated that heat-treatment duration of 60 days and not 80 days was effective forbreaking dormancy of the oil palm seeds and successful seedling growth. This study shows that oil palm seedsgermination can be obtained successfully within a short period (60 days) of heat-treatment compared to thecurrent 80 days application by PAMOL Plantation Ltd. Lobe estate. These results could provide significantsolutions to the numerous demands of oil palm seeds by local farmers