International scientific name Elaeis guineensis
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kew-66337 Oil palm , or Oil palm African oil palm Eleis guinea (lat. Elaeis guineensis) - a plant of the Palm family ( Arecaceae ), a species of the genus Oil palm ().
Elaeis
The birthplace of this plant is considered to be the coastal regions of equatorial West Africa from 16° N. w. up to 15° S It is cultivated, besides Africa, in other countries with a tropical climate (Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) to obtain valuable edible and technical oil.
Botanical description
Morphology IN growing wild
The oil palm is a tree up to 20-30 m high; in cultivation it is rarely higher than 10-15 meters. The trunk appears only in the fourth to sixth year of life, and sometimes under the forest canopy only after 15-20 years. The trunk diameter of an adult tree reaches 25 cm.
Ecology
grows in a hot and humid equatorial climate; the optimal average annual temperature for this plant is 24-28°. Optimal annual precipitation: 1500-3000 mm. It is also very light-loving, development is significantly delayed and yields drop in conditions of even slight shading. As observations have shown, in the rainy season, with insufficient sunlight
More male inflorescences are formed, and intense lighting promotes the appearance of female inflorescences.
Oil palm is quite undemanding when it comes to soil and can grow in almost any type of soil in the tropical zone.
Classification by fruit structure
Based on the structure of the fruit, it is customary to divide the variety of forms of oil palms into 3 types:
Application
Two types of oil are obtained from oil palm fruits:
Cultivation Oil from the fruits of this plant has been produced since ancient times. A jar with traces of palm oil was discovered during archaeological excavations of African burial grounds dating back to the third millennium BC. e. However, cultivating it in began only in the 20th century, when companies producing margarine and soap became interested in the oil from its fruits. In 1911, large-scale oil palm cultivation was started in Indonesia, and in 1919 in Malaysia. The area occupied by oil palm in African countries has also been significantly expanded. Now the oil palm has become one of the leading oil crops in the world. In 1988, global production of oil palm oil was 9.1 million tons and is increasing every year.
Oil palm is propagated by seeds. To stimulate seed germination, they are exposed to elevated (37-40°) temperatures. After germination, the seeds are sown in nurseries. From one hectare of the nursery, up to 20 thousand seedlings are obtained, this is enough to plant 60-130 hectares of industrial plantations.
Increases in productivity are achieved by introducing modern intensive technologies cultivation to replace outdated ones, used for a long time by the local population in Africa, as well as the development of new, more productive hybrids and varieties of oil palm that give greater oil yield.
- Oil palm- article from
No matter which tropical country you go to, you will find oil palm everywhere. Even rows of plantings are visible from the plane, endless plantations stretch along the roads, and in the car you constantly drive trucks filled to the brim with oil palm fruits.
Nowadays, oil palm is grown in almost all countries located between 10° latitude in both hemispheres, and it originates from the equatorial zone of West Africa. Wild representatives of this palm grow there in secondary forests and on the edges of tropical rain forest.
Oil palm is a typical crop of tropical plains, especially river valleys and sea coasts. This is due to its high demands on the thermal regime: the optimal average annual temperature is 24-28°C with a minimum of 19°C. Therefore, oil palm plantations rarely rise above 700-800 m above sea level, even in the equatorial belt, although in Cameroon it is found up to an altitude of 1750 m.
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a slender plant 20-30 meters high. An adult palm tree usually has 20-40 long (up to 4-7 m) pinnate leaves with a petiole covered with spines. Every year, the palm tree produces up to 20-25 new leaves to replace the same number of dead ones. Inflorescences with the number of flowers from 6 thousand to 140 thousand are formed in the axils of the leaves! As a rule, male and female inflorescences are formed successively on one plant. On individual inflorescences there are sometimes both male and female flowers. Such mixed inflorescences are quite often formed in young palms and very rarely in adults. Sometimes there are dioecious plants that produce flowers of only one sex.
The fruit of the oil palm is a simple drupe with one or two seeds. The drupes grow tightly pressed to each other, forming thick, cob-shaped fruits on a short stalk, approximately 70 cm long and weighing up to 50 kg. Individual fruits measuring 5x3 cm have the shape of an elongated egg with weakly defined three sides. Beneath their smooth red shell is powdery, fibrous orange-yellow flesh that surrounds a hard, woody pit with a thick shell.
In West Africa, oil palm has been used for at least 5 thousand years. A jar with traces of palm oil was discovered during archaeological excavations of burial grounds at Abydos dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. e. Europeans have known this plant since the time of the Portuguese sea voyages to the shores of West Africa. However, on European market Palm oil appeared at the end of the 18th century, and already in the 19th century large plantations of this plant began to be cultivated in African countries, and oil palm gained popularity as a crop.
In 2008, all countries of the world grew more than 205 million tons of oil palm fruits, of which 85 million tons - Indonesia, 83 million tons - Malaysia. Nowadays the most large areas areas allocated for planting this crop are in Indonesia, Malaysia and Nigeria. Indonesia and Malaysia also produce the most oil palm fruits - 40% of world production each. But in Nigeria, where the yield of this palm is very low, 22% of the world's oil palm area produces only 4% of the world's production.
Why is oil palm grown?
Elaeis guineensis is one of the most important oilseed plants worldwide. High-quality oil is extracted from both the pulp of the fruit (palm oil) and the seeds (palm kernel oil). From 100 kg of fruit, an average of 22 kg of palm oil and 1.6 kg of palm kernel oil are obtained.
When producing palm oil, palm fruits undergo a process of mechanical and physical purification. At the first stage of cleaning, the fruits are sterilized, peeled and pressed (stage rough cleaning), resulting in crude palm oil, which is usually red (orange to light brown) in color because the resulting oil contains high amounts of beta-carotene. The melting point of such oil is 33-39 °C, that is, it hardens at room temperature.
At the second stage of purification, complete purification is carried out by refining, removing beta-carotene and volatile fatty acids from the oil, as well as the process of discoloration and odor elimination (deodorization). The result is purified, refined, clarified, deodorized palm oil, which is usually white or light yellow in color.
Additionally, in a second step, the palm oil can be subjected to a fractionation process where the thinner fractions of the oil are separated from the more solid fractions at a higher rate. high temperature melting. The result is liquid palm olein with a melting point of 12-24 °C and solid palm stearin (melting point 46-056 °C), the color of which varies from white to light yellow.
Palm oil and its liquid fraction olein are used for the production of margarines and combined fats. Palm stearin and palm oil are used for the production of soap products and detergents. In addition, palm oil and its fractions are used in the production of ice cream, leavening additives, for industrial frying of potatoes (frying fat in the preparation of chips), for the production of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, candles, toiletries, as a basis for emulsions used in metallurgical industry (as lubricants for rolling mills), for coating sheet metal using the hot-dip method, etc. Since the beginning of the 2000s. Palm oil is actively used for the production of biofuel.
Palm oil, palm olein and palm stearin are traded commodities and are primarily traded in Malaysia through the Kuala Lumpur exchange.
High demand for oil palm products is forcing an increase in plantation areas. According to FAO, in 1990, 6.1 million hectares of tropical land were planted with this crop, in 2005 - already 12.9 million hectares. Three years later, in 2008 – 14.6 million hectares. Of course, part of the increase in areas under oil palm came from other developed lands, but the bulk of new plantations were built on the site of cleared wet lands. tropical forests(primarily in Indonesia). It is known that complete restoration of such forests in the foreseeable future is impossible, and their loss is associated with the disappearance of a mass of animal and plant species, a complex change natural conditions over large areas.
To be fair, the arguments of oil palm producers should also be cited. They say: “The productivity of oil palm plantations makes it the most efficient land use factor of all oilseed crops. 4-5 tons of oil are obtained per hectare of plantation, and this is almost ten times more than the closest competitive crops! Consequently, the area needed for oil palm is ten times less.” I don’t think that the efforts of environmentalists will reduce the demand for palm oil. But increasing the yield of oil palm varieties will more likely help preserve the virgin tropical forest.
Tatiana Chernyakhovskaya
Sources:
Palm Oil Truth Foundation, http://www.palmoiltruthfoundation.com/
FAOSTAT, http://faostat.fao.org/
Novak B., Schultz B., Tropical fruits. M.: BMM AO, 2002.
Did you know that date palms are divided into male and female? The male specimen has a different type of flowers, which makes it possible to distinguish it from the female “individual”. Since ancient times they knew that for good harvest Need male and female date palms. For several dozen women's - one man's. One palm tree can produce a quarter ton of dates.
The palm tree is ideally suited for life in the desert: its trunk can protect not only from heat, but also from cold. Dead leaves provide additional protection. By the way, fresh leaves palm trees are very durable and the inhabitants of the corresponding latitudes make clothes from them. In this way, people are well protected from the scorching sun and dust. Very hot weather The palm grows only at night, resting during the day.
But how does a date palm in the desert survive without water? Fortunately, it does not grow without water. The reality is that the date only grows where groundwater they come quite close to the surface, and the palm tree can reach them with its powerful, long roots. The surroundings create an oasis, to the delight of those traveling through dry areas. If you decide to grow date palm at home, you don’t have to worry - in our latitudes, even in the hottest heat, the date will feel great.
Of the five thousand varieties of dates, all can be divided into three groups: dry, semi-dry and juicy. Naturally, juicy ones are the most expensive and delicious, but in many respects they are inferior to dry ones. The latter are known for strengthening the walls of blood vessels well and having antioxidant and antiradical activity.
Peaches, of course, do not grow on the Venezuelan peach palm. Its eighteen-meter trunk and even the leaves are covered with very sharp needle-like spines, protecting the ripening fruits from people and animals.
The egg-shaped, bright red or orange-yellow fruits are the size of a small peach or apricot and hang in huge grape-like clusters. Fleshy outer part the fruit tastes like a chestnut and if you boil it in salt water, you get tasty dish, rich in vitamins. Sometimes these fruits are fried and eaten with molasses or drizzled with sugar syrup. In Central and South America peach palms Whole plantations are planted.
The dum palm (elsewhere called the ginger palm) grows in Upper Egypt. What sets it apart from other palm trees is interesting feature. On a tree 10-12 meters high, 3-4 branches grow. Each of them ends with a bunch of fan-shaped leaves, between which flowers appear: on one tree - female, on the other - male. U female trees the flowers give way to large clusters of beautiful shiny yellow-brown fruits. There are up to 200 of them in one bunch. The ginger palm is an important source of nutrition for the poor in Egypt (they eat the fibrous, powdery husk of the fruit, which tastes like gingerbread).
The Dum Palm is the only branching palm tree in the world.
In the swampy forests and flooded lowlands of tropical America, Africa and Madagascar, the raffia palm grows, from the sweet juice of which wine is made. The fruits and apical bud of raffia are used as food as a vegetable, and oil is squeezed out of the seeds.
Another genus of wine palms is Jubaea. It combines honey or wine palm, elephant palm and Chilean palm. They grow in the mountains along the Pacific coast of Chile up to an altitude of 1200 meters.
Their smooth 25-meter trunks with a diameter of about a meter serve as a source of sweet juice up to 400 liters from one mature tree, which, in turn, is used to make molasses (hence the name honey palm) and wine. The fruit is 4-5 centimeters long with edible pulp, similar to a coconut. The leaves are used to make fiber and also serve as roofing material.
Main source vegetable oil in the tropics - the fruits of coconut and oil palms. The oil palm grows in western Equatorial Africa. Clusters of drupes hang on a trunk about 30 meters high, bearing over 150 three-meter long feathery leaves. One such cluster consists of 600-800 fruits and weighs up to 25 kilograms. The seeds of the fruit contain about 50% of the so-called palm oil used to produce margarine.
In Oceania, along with the coconut palm, which produces milk and oil, the breadfruit tree grows. All species of trees of the genus Artocarpus of the mulberry family are called cereal trees. They bear fruit in “loaves” weighing up to 12 kg! Starch accumulates in the pulp of oval fruits, which turns into... dough as it ripens. “If someone plants a breadfruit tree, he will do more to feed his descendants than a grain grower. all his life working his field by the sweat of his brow...” wrote James Cook.
Typically breadfruit trees bear fruit within 70-75 years. On one tree, 700-800 “breads” ripen annually. The fruits are filled with sweetish pulp. Drinks are made from unripe fruits, and something similar to bread is baked from ripe ones. The fruits of the Indian breadfruit tree are impressive - up to a meter in diameter! The branches could not withstand such a load, so the “loaves” grow directly on the trunk. The African breadfruit tree Traculia has smaller fruits - up to half a meter in diameter and weighing up to 14 kg. Patriarch still exists in Madagascar breadfruit trees- height 20 m, trunk girth 50 m.
And pancakes are made from the starch of the sago palm, which grows in New Guinea. The palm tree blooms at the 16th year of life, although it is cut down before flowering, when in its core greatest number starch. The core is removed, pressed through a small sieve onto a hot metal surface and they make sago, which is why the palm tree is called sago.
Without any processing, you can consume the milky juice of the milk tree itself - the Venezuelan galactodendron. In composition it is close to cow's milk and resembles cream with sugar! And if you boil the juice, a delicious curd mass is formed.
In Madagascar you can admire a stunning tree from the begonia family with bizarre fruits. It is called sausage because on its branches there are many brown, sausage-shaped fruits hanging randomly on long stalks. Each such “sausage” can be about half a meter long and 10 cm in diameter. However, this is also the name of Japanese aucuba. Its leathery leaves are covered with golden-yellow spots and dots, somewhat reminiscent of pieces of fat on the cut of a sausage. The similarity, however, is quite distant.
Off the east coast of Africa there is a concentration of strange, peculiar forms plant life. Here, on the rocky slopes of the mountains, you can find the cucumber tree (Dendrosicyos socotrana) - a plant with prickly wrinkled leaves, spiky fruits similar to ordinary cucumbers and a thick trunk, swollen with milky juice, consisting of soft whitish cellular tissue that is easily cut with a knife. This is the only tree in the pumpkin family.
On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, a palm tree also grows, the thickened juice of its nuts taste qualities almost no different from butter.
There are also plants - “lollipops”. For example, the leaves of the Paraguayan stevia shrub are more than 300 times sweeter than sugar, and the leaves of Mexican sugar grass - 1000 times. Red berries herbaceous plant Tomatocus dannelia from the African savannah is 2000 times sweeter than sugar, and the red berries of Dioscorephyllum cumminisii from the forests of Nigeria and other West African countries are 3000 times sweeter. The sweetest plant grows in West Africa - the ketemf bush, which contains the substance toumatin, which is 100,000 times sweeter than sugar!
On the islands of Oceania there is a species tropical trees- “cakes”. They grow in abundance with yellowish fruits that taste like sweet cakes.
The candy tree, or Japanese raisin tree, is a member of the buckthorn family, native to Japan and China - sweet howenia. To be precise, they are actually dry, and the taste of this plant candy is not for everyone: it resembles sourish, inedible raisins, but the twisted axis of the inflorescence holding them is juicy and fleshy. Each tree can produce 35 kg of “candy,” neither sweet nor flavored with rum.
In the forests grows the plant kalir-kanda, called in the local dialect “fool the stomach.” Having eaten 1-2 leaves of it, a person feels full for a whole week, despite the fact that there are no substances in the leaves. nutrients. Due to their ability to create the illusion of satiety, tablets and infusions from the leaves of kalir-kanda are recommended for people who want to lose weight.
A plant such as a palm tree represents rejoicing, the sunny principle, glory and honesty. The straight trunk of the palm symbolizes triumph, blessing and victory. The constancy of the palm tree in its unchangeable foliage and constant greenery gave rise to the connection between the power of the tree and the symbol of victory. It is not for nothing that a palm branch has been awarded to the winner along with a laurel wreath since ancient times. Among the peoples of the territories in which it grows, the palm tree is a tree of life, self-reproducing like an androgyne.
The image of a palm tree without fruit symbolizes masculinity and in many cultures is associated with the phallic symbol - the basis male power. The date palm symbolizes femininity and fertility.
The palm tree, both young and old, bearing a large number of fruits, became a symbol of prosperity and longevity in old age.
Different countries give the palm tree its own symbolism, so in China the palm tree means dignity, fertility and retirement, in Arabia the palm tree is the tree of life. In Christianity, the palm tree characterizes the righteous, immortality, the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, divine blessing, paradise, and the triumph of the martyr before death. Separately, palm branches denote triumph and glory, victory over death, sin and resurrection. Early Catholicism associated the palm tree with burial and considers this plant a symbol of a person who has made a pilgrimage. In Egypt, the palm tree is classified as a calendar tree, which puts out a new branch only once a month. In Greece, the palm tree is the emblem of Apollo of Delos and Delphi.
The oil palm grows only in equatorial latitudes, and is found there most valuable culture. But we also deal with this exotic plant quite often.
Like many other palms, oil palm begins to grow without a trunk; for the first 4-5 years it produces only long, showy leaves. But in 5-6 years a trunk is formed, and it gradually raises a bunch of leaves to a height of up to 30 meters. So the natives are there to collect valuable fruits, they used ladders, ropes, and it was even dangerous. On plantations, palm trees, as a rule, do not grow higher than 15 meters and do not live to their natural old age. The plant itself can live up to a hundred years, but on plantations, after the peak of fruiting, the old palm tree is replaced with a new one. The palms are very fruitful and produce large drupes of fruit in large clusters. Each bunch can weigh up to 50 kilograms, and one person collects more than a hundred of these bunches a day.
This was appreciated by industrialists in many countries. If earlier the oil palm served only local residents, now its valuable fruits are useful all over the world. In the homeland of the palm tree, in Liberia and the Congo, it is completely irreplaceable. Livestock farming there is risky due to the spread of , and oil palm is the main source of fat. In Africa, it is believed that palm oil has been mined for a long time: at the bottom of one of the ancient vessels found by archaeologists, the remains of that same oil palm fat were discovered. And the first written evidence about the oil palm and its oil dates back to the 15th century.
Precious and at the same time inexpensive oil palm clusters are used without residue. The bright orange or rust-colored fruits produce two types of oil: palm and palm kernel. The first is extracted from the pulp, the second from the seed. Locals eat palm oil fresh, but after standing for a while, it becomes unpleasant in taste. But it is excellent for lubricating mechanisms, including automobile lubricant, and is used for making candles and soap. Palm kernel oil has become a more valuable food product. One has only to read the labels, and it turns out that candies, ice cream, and margarines contain it.
Palm wine is also prepared from the fruits of the oil palm; its properties are similar to wine. coconut tree. And the cake from fruits and seeds already pressed for oil is still nutritious - it is used as food for ungulates.
Although the birthplace of the oil palm - West Africa, it is cultivated along the entire equator, and the largest plantations are planted in Malaysia. Due to the fact that oil palm does not grow quickly, it is sometimes even grown at home - the feathery leaves are very decorative. The African oil palm has a relative, the American oil palm. It also gives a lot of oil, but it grows while lying down. Its trunk is attached to the ground by numerous root shoots, and the leaves rise up only 2-3 meters.
Many people know about the existence of palm oil. Today it is one of the most used and widespread products plant origin worldwide. In this article we will consider some questions regarding this curious exotic plant, which provides such a necessary product: what is an oil palm, where does it grow, etc.
First of all, I would like to note that the very first description of a tree resembling an oil palm was made by a Venetian named Alvise da Cada Mosto back in the 15th century. This scientist was engaged in research in
More than 50 years ago, the oilseeds made a long journey together with slaves through Atlantic Ocean, after which this oil became so widespread throughout the world.
Yes (southwestern part Pacific Ocean), where you can see endless rows of which produce oil.
Oil palm: photo, description
It is a plant of the palm family and one of the species of the oil palm genus.
In its wild form it is huge tree, the height of which can reach from 20 to 30 meters, but in culture it more often grows from 10 to 15 meters. The main trunk of a palm tree appears only in the 4-6th year of life, and in the shade (under the forest canopy) - only after 15-20 years. Mature tree has a trunk diameter of 25 centimeters.
The root system of the palm tree is quite powerful, but, as a rule, it does not lie very deep. Mature plants at the base of the trunk have numerous adventitious roots extending to the sides. Some plants have such dense appendages that cover the trunk up to a height of 1 meter.
The leaves of the palm tree are long (up to 7 meters), large and feathery. In an adult plant, there can be 20-40 of them in the crown. But every year up to 25 leaves of the palm die off, again being replaced by new ones. Large thorns cover the leaf petioles.
In addition to all of the above, this amazing oil palm is very beautiful and majestic in appearance.
Fruit
This is an ordinary drupe the size of a date. The oval-shaped fruit of the oil palm tree is covered on top with a fibrous pericarp, inside of which there is pulp containing oil. Under this pulp there is a nut covered with a fairly strong shell, inside of which there is a kernel (or seed). The latter mainly consists of endosperm, and the seed embryo is small.
The oil palm (fruit photo above) has great amount drupe. The mass of each of them is 55-100 g. They are collected in paniculate inflorescences containing a total of 1300 to 2300 fruits.
Characteristics of oils
Palm oil is made from the pulp of the fruit. Its color can vary from dark yellow to dark red shades, and it is mainly used as a technological lubricant and for soap production.
Produced from the kernels of palm fruits. Its properties and composition are similar to coconut oil and are often used instead.
Although this oil has a melting point of 27 to 30 degrees Celsius, it is very often subjected to hydrogenation, used in a mixture with other liquid vegetable oils or separately to obtain edible lard in the production of margarine.
To produce one ton of palm oil, four and a half tons of fruit are needed.
Harvesting
The oil palm, as noted above, has a huge number of fruits. At the same time, plantation workers collect the ripe harvest in the amount of up to 2 tons (this is from 80 to 100 bunches) daily by hand. It should be noted that one bunch reaches a weight of 25 kg. And each of them contains about two hundred fruits.
Collecting the fruits is very difficult and labor-intensive, because they are located approximately at the height of a four-story building. How is this done? Workers attach sharp knives to the end of an extendable pole. With the help of them, pickers cut fruits from trees and collect them in heaps on the side of the road. Then the bunches go to the processing plant.
Places of growth
Oil palm grows in countries with hot climates. Where is it grown? There is an African palm of this type (Elaeis guieneensis). Although its homeland is tropical Africa (Nigeria), it grows in Malaysia, Central America and Indonesia.
There are also places where such palms are grown (species Elaeis melanococca, Acrocomia and Coco Mbocaya) in South America (particularly Paraguay). This plant is cultivated for the production of technical and edible oils.
Productivity
A wild-growing oil palm tree blooms and bears fruit only in the 10-20th year of life, while a specially cultivated plant begins to bear fruit in the third or fourth year after planting.
Maximum productivity is achieved at the age of 15-18 years, and total term The life of this exotic plant is on average from 80 to 120 years.
A little history
Oil from the fruits of this wonderful useful plant have been made since ancient times. During archaeological excavations, a jug with obvious traces of palm oil was discovered (African burial grounds dating back to the 3rd millennium BC).
The cultivation of palm trees on an industrial scale began only in the twentieth century. At that time, companies that produced soap and margarine were interested in the oil of its fruits.
Large-scale palm cultivation began in Indonesia in 1911 and in Malaysia in 1919. The areas planted with these plants in African countries also began to expand.
Today, the oil palm is one of the leading crops in the world used for the production of vegetable oil. According to statistics, more than 9 million tons were produced in 1988, and production grew more and more every year.
Usage
The natives themselves usually use the freshest oil obtained from drupes for food, which at that time tastes like nuts. Subsequently, its taste and smell change to not very pleasant.
In general, the oil palm is used in quite a variety of ways: ropes are made from the fibers of its young leaves, dry leaves are used to weave mats, curtains, and roofing for huts is also made from them. Baskets are woven from the stems, quite tasty young shoots are used for food (the so-called palm cabbage), and wine is made from palm sap.
In England, oil is used to lubricate machines and make candles.
Morphology last years palm trees began to be grown in Brazil.
In conclusion - about the features of using oil
Surprisingly, palm oil, used in metallurgy ( lubricants for, etc.), also used in the food industry.
It is used in the production of leavening additives, ice cream, and in the industrial frying of potatoes (chips).
In addition, it is used in the production of cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. And since the early 2000s, palm oil has been quite actively used in the production of biofuel.