| Project Detail |
New methods for oil palm sustainability
Demand for palm oil continues to increase worldwide. It is a cost-effective global commodity widely used in processed foods. While oil palm is one of the world’s most rapidly increasing crops, it is also responsible for significant deforestation in many equatorial areas, mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia. The EU-funded iPALMS project will focus on reconciling oil palm cropping and nutrient fertilisation to reduce inputs and carbon footprint and to increase sustainability. Specifically, it will set up a biomonitoring technology based on functional genomics (metabolomics, proteomics) to control potassium fertilisation in oil palm.
The iPALMS or “identifying Practicable functional biomarkers to Monitor nutritional requirements in oil palm agroSystem” is devoted to the elaboration of a K-Bio-Index which will permit a better potassium fertilizer use by planters. This bio indicator will be completed by a K-Profiles-Library and a data base “iPALMS DATA”. Oil palm is a typical case of a tree-crop that has a strong impact on local biodiversity and landscape via deforesting but the global demand in palm oil is still increasing, including by oil companies looking for resources other than petroleum. A considerable effort should now be devoted to reconcile oil palm cropping and nutrient fertilization in order to reduce inputs and the carbon footprint, and increase sustainability. The present project aims to set up a biomonitoring technology based on functional genomics (metabolomics, proteomics) to control potassium (K) fertilization in oil palm. Despite its very high oil-production yield, this species is highly K-demanding, with tissue K content often exceeding nitrogen content. In most agricultural oil palm practices, K fertilization follows standard protocols, in which potash addition is uniform and exceeds tree needs, leading to considerable losses in the environment. Such losses are further detrimental to other agricultural systems and water-tables nearby, potentially causing hypocalcaemia in cattle and humans. Here, we will use metabolomics and proteomics to explore the functional linkage between K conditions and oil palm metabolic efficiency and identify biomarkers than could be implemented to better define K fertilization strategies. |
