Post on 23-Jan-2017
History
1. Oil Palm is a native of Guinea Coast of West Africa
2. Family: Palmae
3. The first plantations were established on Sumatra in 1911, and in 1917 in Malaysia.
4. In Indian context, It was introduced as a ornamental crop in Botanical garden, Kolkata, and in Andaman & nicobar Islands.
5. Oil palm requires 10 times less land than the other three major oil producing crops, soya, rapeseed and sunflower.
6. The first mill was constructed at Pedavegi, West Godavari district during 1993.
What is oil palm? Palm oil?
1. Oil Palm is the highest Oil producer among perennial Oil yielding crops.
2. It produces two distinct Oils viz., Palm Oil (extracted from meso-carp of fresh fruits) and Palm Kernel Oil (from Kernel).
3. Palm Oil has excellent health attributes. It is rich in vitamins A and E and is cholesterol free.
4. Palm Oil can be used in formulation of margarine and cooking fat such as Vanaspati. It is used in manufacture of biscuits, ice creams, soaps, detergents, and shampoos and also as frying fat.
5. Palm Kernel Oil has variety of industrial uses. eg.Lubricants
Evolution of oil palm in India
1. Systemic cultivation was done by Govern-ment of Kerala, they planted 40 ha area at Thodupuzha near Kottayam in 1960.
2. Palode-1971 commercial cultivation.
3. Establishment of NRCOP(National Research centre for oil Palm) in 1995 at Pedavegi, Andhra pradesh.
4. Now it is renamed as IIOPR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research.
5. Identification of potential land was done under the Chairmanship of Dr. K.L Chadha committee in 1986, identified 1.03M.ha suitable for cultivation.
6. In the year 2006, another committee under Dr. Rethinam reassessed and identified total 2 Million ha land.
Site selection
1. Important criteria for selecting the site is to make sure about the water source, transport facilty with proper roads.
2. Area should be free from water-logging
3. Soil should be suitable for bag filling, and it should be a levelled land.
4. Demand for seedlings should be within the reachable area.
5. It shouldn't be nearer to the shaded area.
6. Should have proper electricity
Life cycle of Oil Palm-Nursery
• Seed procurement is from different sources Indigenous as well as Exotic.
• Commercial cultivar is Tenera-Cross between thick shelled Dura and shell-less psifera.
• Mainly there are Two stages of nursery Viz..
Primary-for a period of 3-4 Months
Secondary- 12-18 Months
• The seeds should be sowed in poly bags with regular medium which is suitable for germination with all the nutrients.
• Culling is the process done at this stage to remove the Abnormal and Undesirable seedlings to promote 100% germination.
Transplanting
• 12-18 months old seedlings can be transplanted to the main field.
• Spacing -9mx9mx9m (Triangular method of planting)
• Soil -well drained, loam, sandy loam is most suitable.
• No of plants- 143 palms/Ha
• Ablation should be practiced to remove both the male and female flower upto 3 years to promote good growth of leaves, roots and trunk.
Irrigation
It is a water-loving perennial crop with a high yielding capacity. It requires an annual rainfall of 2000mm/year.
1. Nursery
Use Rose can for small nursery and for grown seedlings usage of drip is allowed. Adequate watering should be given in the morning as well as in the evening to avoid any shock.
2. Main field
Drip irrigation is best suited, in some cases flood irrigation and basin irrigation is allowed.
Water requirement per palm-328 litre/day
Avg requirement is 220-250 lit/day depending on the age of the palm.
Weed Management
Weeding is the removal of unwanted plants which competes with the main crop for water & Nutrition.
It can be done in three ways
• Pre-emergence spray with atrazine (1kg/ha)
• Post emergence spray with Glyphosate (1kg/ha)
• Hand weeding should be done at interspaces of bags to give free environment to get better growth.
In main nursery, spraying with Glyphosate can control the weeds.
In plantations mulching should be done to avoid weed growth around the basin, mulching with fronds, dried leaves, EFB, male inflorescence etc.
Fertilizer Management
Oil palm is a heavy feeder and it requires balanced amount of Macro & Micro Nutrients for growth & yield.
Nursery
Application of well decomposed FYM along with Neem cake, castor cake, vermiculture etc.
Inorganic fertilizer -NPK (18-46-0) 3-12 g/bag
Apart from this, Mgso4 and Borax is recommended.
Main field
NPK-1200:600:1200g/palm/year. It should be applied in four equal splits.
Boran, Mgso4 @100g/palm/year
It can be applied as broadcasting around the trunk, else supplied through drip as Fertigation.
Fertilizer recommendation may vary based on different approaches- Soil & Leaf Analysis
Nutrient deficiency and its Symptoms
Nutrient deficiency symptoms are seen due to improper or inadequate application of nutrients.
Some of the common disorders are:--
Boron Deficiency-wrinkling of leaves, Hook leaf- Apply Boron
Magnesium-Dull green or pale yellow color in older leaves-application of 2% Mgso4 at three days interval.
Nitrogen-Lime green to bright yellow on younger leaves-2% Urea spray at 7 days interval.
Pottasium-Confluent orange spotting and mid-crown yellowing. Application of potash fertilizer is recommended.
Main Field
Nitrogen
Chlorosis appears in older fronds and spread to younger tissues and midribs become bright yellow to orange
Application of organic manure & FYM will overcome this problem.
Potassium
Orange blotch on older fronds, Premature dessication. Apply 3-4kg potassium chloride and followed by leaf analysis after 6 months interval.
Boron
Hooked leaves, fish bone leaf, wrinkled leaf, bristle tip are the deficiency symptoms. Apply 200g Sodium borate/palm around the trunk is recommended.
Inter-cropping
Main objective of inter cropping is utilization of space left between the two rows of the crop and to produce more output per unit area.
• Common intercrops are banana, pulses, oilseeds can be grown in the Juvenile phase (1-3Year). Black pepper, long pepper, cocoa and fodder crop in mature phase (from 7th year onwards).
• Intercropping is allowed only when the sufficient water is available for main crop.
• Inter crop increases the Microclimate in the garden
• Leaf breaking will be less in Intercropped garden.
• It gives an additional income to the farmer.
Mulching
1. Mulching is application of plant waste material on the surface of the basin to reduce soil temperature, soil moisture, improves biological properties of soil, it suppress the weed growth.
2. Also supplies good amount of organic matter and nutrients after decomposition.
3. Biomass of oil palm garden such as fronds, EFB, mesocarp fibre, male inflorecence, POME etc.
4. It conserves moisture in the garden and reduces the frequency of irrigation.
5. It improves palm growth and FFB yield.
6. Alternative source to inorganic fertilizer and thereby reduce the fertilizer cost.
Harvesting
1. It is a very essential activity of the whole oil palm production process and oil quality depends on the Harvest.
2. It aimed at recovering whole harvested produce without loss of oil.
3. Yield is recorded in metric tons of FFB/ha/year.
4. Ripeness of the bunch based on fruit detachment-10-12 fruits will fall after ripening. The fruit color will turn to reddish orange from yellow color.
5. Harvesting can be done by using Malaysian sickle or chisel.
Diseases and control measures
1. Seed/sprout
Brown germ caused by Aspergillus niger
seed treatment with thiram/carbendazim
2. Nursery
Anthracnose, Pestalotia/curvularia leaf spot, Glomerella leaf rot, bud rot
Treatment with phrophylactic spray-Mancozeb and Hexaconazeb-0.1ml/Lt
3. Main Field
Basal stem wet rot, Bunch rot
Treatment with Tridemorph 0.1% and streptomycin antibiotic 1%.
Processing
Once the harvested bunch reaches the mill, it will follow several process
1. Sterilization
Arrests the build up of Free fatty acids (FFA) and loosens the fruits to aid easy stripping. It is done @ 130oc/hr
2. Stripping
Sterilized bunches are fed continuously into a rotary drum which separates the fruits from bunches. After stripping, the EFB will be collected.
3. Digestion
It Loosens the mesocarp from the nut to release the oil. Digester rotates at a slow speed and provision for heating at 95oc
4. Pressing
It is the core of milling process and separate the kernal without breaking the nuts.
Contd...5. Oil recovery
Crude oil obtained from this process after clarification.
6. Storage
stored in welded steel tanks and the temperature should be maintained as low to prevent quality determination @ 32-40oc.
7. Refining
The final product is Crude palm oil [CPO] which is blood red in color and consists of olein and stearin.
CPO is refined by removing the free fatty acids, color & bad odor. this process produce oil which is called RBD0Refined, Bleached & Deodorized palm oil.
8. Kernal oil
The kernal are separated from the press cake left over after extraction of palm oil. Nuts are cracked in units and sheel is separated. The kernal oil is lauric in nature and has saturated fatty acids.
Oil palm at a GlanceOil Palm: Highest vegetable Oil yielder per unit area (3-6
t/ha)
Family Palmae
Species Elaeis guineensis (African Oil Palm)Elaeis oleifera (American Oil Palm)
Source of Oil: Palm Oil: Mesocarp, Kernel Oil: Kernel
Fruit forms (Variety) Dura (thick shell); Pisifera (shell-less); Tenera (thin shell)
Economic cropping period: 25-30 years
Climatic requirements: Above 2000 mm distributed rain/irrigationMax. temp. 29-36CMin. temp. 18-24CSunshine - 5 hours & above
No. of Palms/ha: 143 palms (9 x 9 x 9 m triangular)
Nursery period: 12 - 18 months
Pollination: Insect (Elaeidobius kamerunicus)
Tree height: 20 - 30m
Leaf production /year: 32-40
Leaf length: 6 - 8 m
First harvest: 36 months after planting
Yield of FFB/ha: 15 - 30 t
No. of bunches/ Palm/year : 5 - 12
No. of Fruits/bunch: Above 2000
Avg. bunch weight: 25 kg.
Weight of Fruit: 30 gm.
Fruit to bunch: 42 - 65%
Mesocarp to Fruit: 60 - 83%
Oil to mesocarp: 77 - 81%
Kernel to Fruit: 7 - 12%
Oil to kernel: 49 - 52%
Shell to Fruit: 3 - 11%
Palm Oil yield/Palm Bunch weight/Palm x Fruit/bunch x mesocarp/Fruit x Oil/mesocarp
Suggestions
1. Expand area as per assessed potential and recommendations of Chadha Committee.
2. Micro level survey for area expansion in different States to ensure spread of suitable area with assurance of irrigation. Cover suitable area in Wastelands.
3. Aim for average productivity of 5 Tons Oil per hectare or 20 Tons/ hectare of FFB.
4. Integrated approach to crop production viz. planting material, fertilizers, inter crop; drip irrigation etc. Mulching and other organic farming practices
5. Promote value addition through diversification and effective utilization of field and factory wastes.
6. Provide production based incentive to farmers. Also consider special incentive on yield of more than 25 Tons hectare of FFB.
7. Establishment of seed garden and soil and leaf analysis laboratory.