Dr RHV Corley is a plant physiologist who worked for over 15 years in oil palm research in Malaysia. He was the head of research for Unilever Plantations for a further 16 years, and is now a consultant on tropical plantation crops.

Professor B Tinker was for 7 years at the West African Institute for Oil Palm Research, and has been a consultant in Malaysia. For 12 years he was on the Programme Advisory Committee of PORIM (now MPOB). In the UK he has been Professor of Agricultural Botany, Deputy Director and head of soils at Rothamsted Experimental Station, and Director of Science at the National Environment Research Council.

Introduction.

1. The origin and development of the oil palm idustry.

1.1 Origin of the oil palm.

1.2 The oil palm in Africa.

1.3 Development of the oil palm plantation industry.

1.4 World-wide development of the industry, 1950-2001.

1.5 Development methods.

1.6 Trade in and the use of oil palm products.

2. The classification and morphology of the oil palm.

2.1 Classification of oil palms.

2.2 The African oil palm.

2.3 The American palm.

2.4 The Elaeis guineensis X Elaeis oleifera hybrid.

3. The climate and soils of the oil palm-growing regions.

3.1 General.

3.2 Climate.

3.3 Total climate and oil palm growth.

3.4 Soils.

3.5 Soils of the oil palm regions.

3.6 Land classification.

4. Growth, flowering and yield.

4.1 Analysis of plant growth.

4.2 Vegetative growth and partitioning of dry matter.

4.3 Environmental and management factors.

4.4 Flowering.

4.5 Yield.

5. Selection and Breeding.

5.1 History of Selection.

5.2 Techniques used in oil palm breeding and selection.

5.3 Variation and inheritance.

5.4 Methods of selection and breeding.

5.5 Selection and breeding in practice.

5.6 Oil palm improvemnet in the future.

6. Vegetative propagation and biotechnology.

6.1 History of oil palm tissue culture.

6.2 Tissue culture methods.

6.3 Abnormal flowering, bunch failure and other problems.

6.4 Clone testing.

6.5 The future for oil palm clonal propagation.

6.6 Other aspects of oil palm biotechnology.

7. Seed germination and nurseries.

7.1 Seed germination.

7.2 Nurseries.

8. Site selection and land preparation.

8.1 Choice of site for oil palm planting.

8.2 Plantation layout.

8.3 Field preparation.

8.4 Uses and covers of interrows.

9. The establishment of oil palms in the field.

9.1 Planting in the field.

9.2 Shortening the immature period.

9.3 Spacing of plants in the field.

9.4 Practical aspects of field establishment.

10. Care and maintenance of oil palms.

10.1 Care of palms and plant cover.

10.2 Field mechanisation.

10.3 Irrigation.

10.4 Fruit bunch harvesting.

10.5 The oil extraction ratio problem.

10.6 Palm age, replanting and national yield.

10.7 Site potentials in relation to plantation management.

10.8 Smallholder plantations.

11. Mineral nutrition of oil palms.

11.1 General principles of plant nutrition.

11.2 Palm uptake systems.

11.3 Nutrient deficiency and its control: field experiments.

11.4 Nutrient deficiency and its control: visual symtons and leaf analysis.

11.5 Soil composition and plant nutrition.

11.6 Practical systems for fertiliser type and rate assessment.

11.7 Recycling and losses of nutrients.

11.8 Deficiencies and toxicities in special and unusual soils.

11.9 Practical management of fertilisers.

12. Diseases and pests of the oil palm.

12.1 Diseases and disorders.

12.2 Pests.

12.3 Mammals and birds as pests.

12.4 Insect vectors of disease.

12.5 Pests of other components of the oil palm agroecosystem.

13. The products of the oil palm and their extraction.

13.1 Palm oil products and their chemical structure.

13.2 Nut composition.

13.3 Oil synthesis and breakdown in the fruit.

13.4 Extraction of palm products.

13.5 Processing of oil palm products.

13.6 Other oil palm products.

14. Marketing, economies, end use and human health.

14.1 Palm oil marketing.

14.2 Production costs.

14.3 Uses of palm oil and palm kernel oil.

14.4 Palm oil and human health.

15 Oil palms, the environment and sustainability.

16 The oil palm industry and global change.

17 Palm oil bio-diesel.

18 The future of the industry.

19 Concluding remarks.

Reference list and index of citations.

Index

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