Palm | Kelapa Sawit

The oil palm belongs to the palmae family. It is a monocot that sometimes grows to a height of about 15 meters. It has an unbranched habit, and produces a single trunk which bears a crown of fronds. It is a monoecious plant with the male and female inflorescences (flowers) being borne at the axils of the fronds. These are produced in alternating cycles. The female inflorescence or spadix gives rise to the palm bunch bearing the palm fruits.

The palm fruit is a drupe and consists of leathery exocarp, fleshy mesocarp from which palm oil is extracted,and a stony endocarp (shell) which encloses the kernel

There are three types of fruits based on their colour.
1. Nigrescens These are ordinary fruits which are black when unripe. The fruits are red when ripe, with part of the top half black in colour.
2l. Virescens These fruits are green when unripe due to a marked absence of anthocyanic pigment. They are light redish-orange when ripe with a greenish tip.
3. Albescens These fruits are white when unripe due to a marked absence of carotenoids.
They are pale yellow when ripe.

Three fruit forms exist. These forms are based on shell thickness as follows:
1. Dura These are fruits which have thick shell. They are the most common in the groves.
2. Pisifera These are fruits which have little or no shell at all and the kernel is surrounded by a fiber ring.
3. Tenera These are fruits which have a thin shell surrounded by a fiber ring. This is a hybrid obtained by crossing Dura with Pisifera
Some palm fruits sometimes have additional fleshy carpels and these are described as mantles fruits.
Climate
The ideal climatic features for the cultivation of oil palm are as follows: A rainfall of 2,000mm (80 ins) or more per annum evenly distributed throughout the year. High temperatures ranging between 24 - 34 degrees Celsius (75 -90 degrees Fahrenheit) daily; adequate sunshine totalling about 1,500 and 2000 sunshine hours a year or at least 5 sunshine hours per day.