ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the application and applicability of the classical breeding and selection methods and techniques in oil palm. Since its inception, oil palm breeding was guided by the need to produce sufficient improved planting materials to meet the requirements of a rapidly expanding plantation industry. Many oil palm breeding programs have moved or added on to the traditional modified recurrent selection (MRS) and modified reciprocal recurrent selection (MRRS) breeding schemes or methods. The premise of the Recombinant Inbred Variety (RIV) approach is that hybrid vigor is not a consequence of heterosis but of dominance or pseudo-dominance. Backcross (BC) breeding is usually performed with the objective of transferring a desirable gene or trait from a donor parent of less desirable genetic background by recurrent crossings to a parent with an otherwise superior genetic background, that is, recurrent parent. Isogenic (IL) and near isogenic (NIL) lines are useful for genetic studies and for F1 hybrid seed production ready parent development.
