International Journal of Plant Breeding and Crop Science

Vol. 4(2), pp. 231-236, June, 2017. www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 2167-0449

IJPBCS

Research Article

Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative

Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm
Research Institute (OPRI), Ghana
Enoch Sapey1*, Kwasi Adusei-Fosu2, Dickson Osei Darkwah3 and Daniel Agyei-Dwarko4
1,2,3,4
CSIR-Oil Palm Research Institute, P.O. Box 74, Kade, Ghana.

A population of 54 Oil palm accessions conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI) was
characterized based on eleven bunch yield and vegetative traits using multivariate techniques,
principal component analysis and cluster analysis. Principal component analysis of the data
indicates that three principal components with eigen value greater than one explained 81.05% of
the total variation among the fifty-four oil palm accessions. Cluster analysis also resolved the
fifty-four accessions into two main clusters. The first cluster comprised of 22 populations (40.7%)
and the other cluster has 32 populations (59.3%). The grouping of the oil palm germplasm by
cluster analysis did not follow a particular pattern. Some accessions from the same location of
collection were clustered together while others from different locations were clustered together.
Information obtained in this study will help in the selection of oil palm germplasm to incorporate
into our breeding programmes.

Keywords: Oil palm, principal component analysis, cluster analysis, multivariate analysis.

INTRODUCTION

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is one of the major
economic crops in Ghana and accounts for 75% of the
Countrys export revenue. Oil palm cultivation in Ghana
occupies an estimated 305,758 hectares and produces an
estimated 243,852 tonnes of palm oil (Agbodeka, 1992;
Danyo, 2013). Palm oil is the largest internationally traded
vegetable oil with demand estimated to reach 240 million
tons by 2050 (Corley,2009).The centres of origin and
diversity of oil palm appear to be concentrated in the
tropical forests of West and Central Africa(Ivory coast,
Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroun) where they occur as semi
forest grooves along fringing rivers in the lowlands usually
close to settlements, although they can thrive in drier and
higher areas (Hartley, 1988).Conservation of Oil palm
genetic resources provides a reservoir of genes for the
development of novel traits, a prerequisite for the
improvement of profitability of the crop (Hayati et al.,
2004).
In furtherance of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), Oil Palm Research Institute (OPRI)
Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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objective of expanding the genetic base of its breeding
materials and preventing the loss of important oil palm
genetic resources in Ghana, Oil palm germplasm was
prospected for conservation, evaluation and
characterization. Characterization for agronomic and
morphological traits is important because it helps the
utilization of germplasm materials by breeders
(Upadhyaya et al., 2008). The prerequisite for the efficient
utilization of germplasm for crop improvement
programmes is that, it must be properly evaluated,
characterized and documented so that any group of
entries carrying desired characteristics can be easily
retrieved and used in breeding programmes (Reddy et al.,
2006).
*Corresponding Author: Enoch Sapey, CSIR-Oil Palm
Research Institute of Ghana, P.O. Box 74, Kade-Ghana
Email: esapey@yahoo.com
Sapey et al. 232
Multivariate analysis consists of a collection of methods
that can be utilized when several measurements are made
on each individual or objects in one or more samples
(Rencher, 2002). Multivariate analyses have proved
important in classifying germplasm, ordering variability for
large number of accessions or analyzing genetic
relationships among traits in any breeding materials (Zafar
et al., 2008). Principal components analysis and clustering
are mostly used multivariate technique to classify
germplasm materials (Li-Hammed et al., 2016). Principal
component analysis (PCA) generates the general
relationship between variables while clustering is an
exploratory data analysis tool for grouping accessions
(Richard and Wichern, 2007). Principal component
analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) have been
successfully used in germplasm evaluation of crops for
years as they reveal the relationship and correlation
among variables studied (Zafar et al., 2008; Maji and
Shaibu, 2012; Odewale et al., 2012; Ahmad et al., 2014;
Hamza et al., 2014). Recently principal component
analysis and clustering was used in characterizing
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)-Nigerian oil palm
germplasm (Li-Hammed et al., 2015 and Che Wan
Zanariah et al., 2016).
This study aims at using PCA and CA to assess the
genetic variability in oil palm germplasm conserved at
CSIR-OPRI. Information obtained from this will help
maximize heterosis and selection of individuals to
incorporate into OPRIS breeding programme.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The Oil Palm Research Institute and Malaysian Palm Oil
Board (MPOB) embarked on a joint oil palm prospection in
Ghana in 1996 to collect, conserve, evaluate and utilize
the oil palm genetic resources. Fifty four (54) accessions
were collected from 14 locations in five regions of Ghana.
The seeds were germinated, nursed and resulting
seedlings planted at plot (K31-1) in 1998 for conservation
and evaluation. The 54 accessions were laid out in
unreplicated blocks and 10 palms per block were selected
randomly for the analysis. All the trials were conducted at
OPRI-Kusi (0.6.00 N, 001.45 W) and the soil belongs to
Kokofu series (Ferri-Plinthic Acrisol-FAO/UNESCO). The
annual rainfall ranges from 1500 to 2200 mm with a
temperature of 24-34C. Good agronomic practices were
carried out from establishment to completion of the trial.
Bunch yield data were collected on number of bunches
(BN) and average bunch weight (ABW) (2002-2010.) and
pooled. Fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield was obtained as the
product of BN and ABW .Vegetative growth
measurements were made annually on individual palm
basis ten years after planting and pooled. The following
vegetative parameters were computed using standard
procedure as described by Corley (1976): Leaf area(LA),
leaf area index(LAI), frond dry weight (FDW), height (HEI),
Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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radius (RAD), rachis (RAC), total fronds (TFR), spread
(SPD), frond dry weight (FDW).
Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were
used to assess the genetic variability among the 54 oil
palm accessions from the 14 locations using the Genstat
version 11 software. Hierarchical cluster analysis was
done using the average linkage and euclidean distance.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Principal Component Analysis
Principal Component Analysis measures the importance
and contribution of each component to total variance. It
can be used for measurement of independent impact of a
particular trait to the total variance whereas each
coefficient of proper vectors indicates the degree of
contribution of every original variable with which each
principal component is associated. The higher the
coefficient, regardless of the sign, the more effective it will
be indicative of difference between accessions (Vishnu et
al., 2013). Information from PCA may assist the plant
breeder to identify limited traits for utilization in
hybridization and selection programs.
The contribution of each variable to the extracted principal
components (PCs) is presented in Table 1. The principal
component analysis of the data shows that the three PCs
with eigen values greater than one explained 81.05% total
variation among the fifty-four oil palm germplasm. The
extracted PC1, PC2 and PC3 had eigen values 6.406,
2.059 and 1.260 with corresponding percentage variance
of 53.39, 17.16, 10.50. Li-Hammed et al., (2016) had three
PCs accounting for 90.79% of the total variance in their
study in oil palm.PC1 has contributions from LA (-0.360),
LAI (-0.353), FDW (-0.344), RAC (-0.357), RAD (0.360),
TLA (-0.324) which accounts for 53.39% of the variation.
For PC2,NB (-0.547), FFB (0.610), HEI (0.306) and TFR
(0.382) accounts for 17.16% of the variations.PC3 has
contributions from NB (0.474) and TFR (0.576) which also
account for 10.50% of the variation. The first component
has vegetative and yield related variables, similar result
was obtained by Oboh and Fakorede (1997) and Li-
Hammeda et al., (2015).This shows that one or two traits
can be used to obtain information on all other traits and
can be used as criteria in selecting oil palms for
incorporation into oil palm breeding programmes.
The ordinations of the oil palm germplasm (scores) and the
eleven vegetative traits are presented in Figures 1 and 2,
from the score plot GHA45, GHA 55 and GHA 37 were
separated from the others indicating that they are unique
from the others. Some of the traits are superimposed on
others (Figure 2) indicating that increase in one will lead to
an increase in the other.
Traits that are on the same PC and are very close to each
other shows the existence of positive correlations between
them, and an increase in one will lead to the increase in
 Int. J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci. 233

Table 1: Principal component analysis of 11 Agronomic and vegetative traits for the oil palm germplasm

Traits Principal Components

1 2 3
ABW -0.201 -0.165 -0.282
NB 0.052 -0.547 0.474
FFB -0.099 -0.610 0.226
HEI -0.250 -0.306 -0.212
LA -0.360 -0.086 0.053
LAI -0.353 0.102 0.321
FDW -0.344 -0.061 -0.145
RAC -0.357 -0.013 -0.133
RAD -0.360 0.075 -0.146
SPD -0.363 0.088 -0.121
TFR -0.133 0.382 0.576
TLA -0.324 0.164 0.297
Eigen Value 6.406 2.059 1.260
Variance (%) 53.39 17.16 10.50
Cumulative (%) 53.39 70.55 81.05

Table: 2 Cluster means of 12 bunch and vegetative traits for the oil palm germplasm

Traits Cluster 1 Cluster 2

LA 7.41 6.11
TLA 211.46 158.32
LA1 1.72 1.32
FDW 2.44 1.70
RAC 4.90 4.23
TFR 28.52 26.78
HEI 229.52 176.40
RAD 4.96 4.33
SPD 78.08 59.52
ABW 6.91 6.01
NB 1116.33 1124.25
FFB 7.73 6.65

Figure 1: Scores plot of 54 oil palm accessions on PC1 and PC2

the other, while variables at opposite end to each other are Cluster Analysis
anti-correlated and the increase in one will bring about
decrease in the other and vice versa (Li-Hammed et al., PCA alone may not give enough representation of how the
2016). characters contribute to genetic divergence, therefore has
Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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Sapey et al. 234

Figure 2: Plot of 11 Bunch yield and Vegetative traits on PC1 and PC2

GHA1
GHA8
GHA32
GHA18
GHA2
GHA4
GHA48
GHA5
GHA52
GHA6
GHA27
GHA7
GHA25
GHA8B
GHA40
GHA44
GHA56
GHA50
GHA51
GHA53
GHA46
GHA45
GHA3
GHA23
GHA39
GHA43
GHA11
GHA15
GHA41
GHA13
GHA35
GHA20
GHA8A
GHA12
GHA10
GHA14
GHA19
GHA9
GHA21
GHA42
GHA24
GHA31
GHA22
GHA47
GHA37
GHA33
GHA26
GHA28
GHA29
GHA36
GHA57
GHA30
GHA38
GHA55

1.00 0.95 0.90 0.85 0.80 0.75

Figure 3: Dendogram of 54 oil palm accessions based on 11 traits

Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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to be complemented with other techniques like cluster
analysis. Single linkage clustering analysis was used
because it has been reported to be a better technique
since it adequately provides a clearer and more
informative display of relative positions of the genotypes
(Aremu et al., 2007; Aliyu and Fawole, 2001). Cluster
Analysis revealed two major clusters and sub clusters. The
first cluster comprised of 22 populations (40.7%). There is
an outlier in the first cluster (GHA45) an indication that this
population is unique from the other population within the
sub cluster. The second cluster had 34 populations
(59.3%). The means of the two clusters for all the traits are
presented in Table 2. The first cluster had higher means
for all the traits analyzed except NB. The result of cluster
analysis indicated that there is variation for different bunch
yield and vegetative traits. Kumar and Singh (2006)
indicated that selection of genotypes to be included in the
hybridization programme on the basis of genetic diversity,
should be based on high cluster means for yield and its
components.
The grouping of the oil germplasm by cluster analysis did
not follow a particular pattern. Some accessions from
same location of collection were clustered together while
others from different locations were clustered together.
This implies that there is no correspondence between
population and their geographic origin. Similar
observations were reported by Li-Hammeda et al., (2016)
in oil palm germplasm. The random distribution of
populations into various clusters from different geographic
location implicate that drives other than geographic
influence such as exchange of breeding material, genetic
drift, natural and artificial selections are responsible for
diversity as reported by Murthy and Arunachalm (1966).
CONCLUSION
Principal component analysis shows variation exist in the
oil palm germplasm analyzed and identified some of the
traits that play prominent role in classifying the variation
existing in the 54-oil palm germplasm. The analysis
revealed LA, LAI, FDW, RAC, RAD TLA contributed more
to the diversity of the germplasm. These variables can be
used as criteria for improvement of oil palm for vegetative
traits. Cluster analysis also helped to group the oil palm
accessions into two clusters based on similarity and will
aid selection of oil palm populations for future use.
Populations that are genetically distant from each other
have been identified (GHA 45, GHA 55 and GHA 37) and
these can be selected to maximize hybrid vigor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thanked CSIR-OPRI for funding the study and the
permission to publish the results.
Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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Int. J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci. 235
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Multivariate Analysis of Bunch Yield and Vegetative Traits of Oil Palm Germplasm conserved at Oil Palm Research Institute (OP RI)-Ghana
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