Monday, July 21, 2014

Every day fruiting at the park

Clean cut leaf base for harvesting purpose

The thicker the yellow flesh the more
oil yield is obtained in better hybrids.
 The oil palm tree bears and produces fruits on everyday basis for the next 25 years, which is the economic life of the palm. When harvesting the oil palm fruit bunch, the thick and broad leaf base below it needs to be clean cut.  The bunch of fruits is held by a soft fruit stalk which is easily cut by a sharp curved pruner even at great heights.  Today many varieties of oil palm fruits are produced to obtain more oil yield for the manufacture of cooking oil.   Besides the oil from the yellow flesh (mesocarp), the center of the the fruit which contains the pure white embryo or kernel is also the source of kernel oil.  The seed's protective covering (endocarp) needs to be crushed at the factories to collect the kernel oil.  The remains of the waste endocarps can be used as road metalling.
Oil palm fruits are ovoid and are basally angled due to close packing.  The fruits are coloured variously yellow or orange and overlain with deep violet or black in exposed parts.

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