PERFORMANCE OF Tenera CLONES ON COASTAL SOILS IN LOWER PERAK, MALAYSIA

Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among clones for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) yield, bunch number and average bunch weight at P<0.01. Highly significant year effects at P<0.01 were also noted for FFB yield and yield component traits. Mean FFB yield in the first five years of harvesting for 11 clones was 206. 03 kg per palm per year or 28.02 tonnes per hectare per year, which was 16 per cent higher than the control commercial DxP seedlings. Coefficient of variation (CV) analysis showed that the clones had lower CV values as compared to the control commercial DxP seedlings for FFB yield and its component traits. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences among the treatments for all the bunch and fruit component traits at P<0.01.The top ranking clones, 10-S25 and 41-T37, had oil to bunch of more than 30 per cent while the lowest oil to bunch of 22.95 per cent was recorded by clone 3-S4. For oil yield, overall mean for clones was 8.09 tonnes per hectare per year which was 23 per cent higher than the control commercial DxP seedlings (6.56 tonnes/ha/year). Three clones (10-S25, 41-T37 and 49-U12) with estimated oil yield of more than 8 tonnes per hectare per year were recommended as ortets for the next re-cloning programme because they met the Malaysian Standard (MS 2099:2008) for ortet selection. Keywords: Tenera clones, oil yield performance, FFB yield performance and re-cloning.