Capacity of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacquin) male inflorescences to host Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Derelominae). Comparison between two cultivars in northern Sumatra
- 1CIRAD - University of Pretoria
Abstract
During the 1980's, Elaeidobius kamerunicus, one of the oil palm pollinator species in Africa, was successfully introduced in Indonesia from Cameroon to improve oil palm production and reduce assisted pollination. It is now well known that E. kamerunicus completes its entire life cycle on the anthesis of the male inflorescences. However, for a long time, oil palm breeding programs have favoured the development of female inflorescences for production purposes, to the detriment of male inflorescences. The objective of our study was to explore the interactions between the weevil population, at immature stages, and male inflorescences, produced by two different cultivars (a super-male (SM) cultivar and a highly female and productive experimental cultivar (EXP) of five years old) during anthesis and post-anthesis stages. Morphological characteristics of spikelets of inflorescences were also studied and compared. We analysed field and laboratory data, collected in North Sumatra (Indonesia) from April to June 2019. The mean number of spikelets is lower in EXP palms (126{+/-}16) than in SM palms (213{+/-}15). There are more abnormal spikelets in SM palms (126{+/-}77 and 100{+/-}73 for SM-SD and SM-DD cultivars, respectively), than in EXP palms (33{+/-}23). However, all these differences do not affect either male inflorescences number of flowers or their carrying capacity that contributes to E. kamerunicus development. The number of male flowers per inflorescences is almost the same for both materials, and about 10% of flowers were occupied by E. kamerunicus immature stages. Despite noticeable morphological differences, no major differences were found between male inflorescences of EXP and SM cultivars. We will discuss our results from pollination point of view.
Related
- Mutualistic relationships between male inflorescences of Elaeis guineensis Jacquin and its pollinator Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Derelominae): Comparison between two cultivars for E. kamerunicus progeny emergence in North Sumatra Indonesia
- Mark-Release-Recapture Experiments in a North Sumatra Oil Palm Plantation: Assessing the Impact of Super-Male Planting Material on Fruit Set and Elaeidobius kamerunicus population size
- Inflorescence attractivity and dynamics of emergence of Elaeidobius sp. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a key pollinator in oil palm agrosystem in Cameroun
- Removal of Off-Season Inflorescences Improves Fruit Retention, Kernel Quality, and Source–Sink Balance in Macadamia ‘O.C’
- Impact of Cannabis sativa (L.) inflorescences on the control of artificial Nosema (= Vairimorpha) ceranae infection in honey bees Apis mellifera ligustica (Spinola, 1806)
BibTeX
@misc{beaudoinollivier2026capacity,
title = {{Capacity of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacquin) male inflorescences to host Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Derelominae). Comparison between two cultivars in northern Sumatra}},
author = {L. Beaudoin-Ollivier and E. Freyssinet and R. R. Moeis and H. R. Rey and D. Afandi and I. Syahputra and C. Madec and Y. Dumont},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.12.758427},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758427v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Capacity of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacquin) male inflorescences to host Elaeidobius kamerunicus Faust (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Derelominae). Comparison between two cultivars in northern Sumatra
AU - L. Beaudoin-Ollivier
AU - E. Freyssinet
AU - R. R. Moeis
AU - H. R. Rey
AU - D. Afandi
AU - I. Syahputra
AU - C. Madec
AU - Y. Dumont
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.12.758427
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.12.758427v1
AB - During the 1980's, Elaeidobius kamerunicus, one of the oil palm pollinator species in Africa, was successfully introduced in Indonesia from Cameroon to improve oil palm production and reduce assisted pollination. It is now well known that E. kamerunicus completes its entire life cycle on the anthesis of the male inflorescences. However, for a long time, oil palm breeding programs have favoured the development of female inflorescences for production purposes, to the detriment of male inflorescences. The objective of our study was to explore the interactions between the weevil population, at immature stages, and male inflorescences, produced by two different cultivars (a super-male (SM) cultivar and a highly female and productive experimental cultivar (EXP) of five years old) during anthesis and post-anthesis stages. Morphological characteristics of spikelets of inflorescences were also studied and compared. We analysed field and laboratory data, collected in North Sumatra (Indonesia) from April to June 2019. The mean number of spikelets is lower in EXP palms (126{+/-}16) than in SM palms (213{+/-}15). There are more abnormal spikelets in SM palms (126{+/-}77 and 100{+/-}73 for SM-SD and SM-DD cultivars, respectively), than in EXP palms (33{+/-}23). However, all these differences do not affect either male inflorescences number of flowers or their carrying capacity that contributes to E. kamerunicus development. The number of male flowers per inflorescences is almost the same for both materials, and about 10% of flowers were occupied by E. kamerunicus immature stages. Despite noticeable morphological differences, no major differences were found between male inflorescences of EXP and SM cultivars. We will discuss our results from pollination point of view.
ER -