Pattern of Flowering of Oil Palm Cultivars Planted at Tha sae District, Chumphon Province .

Abstract

This research aimed to compare flowering pattern of commercial oil palm cultivars that planted in Tha sae district, Chumphon province.  Ten of a 10-year-old plams, from 8 oil palm cultivars (Surat1 Surat2 Surat3 Surat4 Surat5 Surat6 Pao-rong and La me were used in completely randomized design.  The number of female inflorescence induced from 25 fronds of each palm was counted (1 year induced 25 fronds) in order to find the number of female inflorescences in a year and the number of palms induced female inflorescence in each frond.  The number of female inflorescences in a year were compared by Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) and the number of palms induced female inflorescence in each frond were compare by Chi square method.  The result showed that different oil palm cultivars had different number of female inflorescences in a year at 95% significant confidence level. Surat1 cultivar had the highest number of female inflorescences in a year (18.2 inflorescence). For the number of palms induced female inflorescence in each frond, the number of palms induced female inflorescence in frond number 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 21, 22, and 25 had 99% significant confidence level.  The number of palms induced female inflorescence in frond number 3, 11, 20, 23, and 24 indicated 95% significant confidence level.  There was no statistically significant difference among other fronds.  From above result, different oil palm cultivars had different pattern of flowering. If oil palm planters know flowering pattern of oil palm cultivars, they can manage the oil palm cultivar in order to increase the yield continually.