WO2020209710A1

WO2020209710A1 - Process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (ffb) harvested from oil palm mother palms and male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms

Info

Publication number: WO2020209710A1
Application number: PCT/MY2020/000003
Authority: WO
Inventors: Voon Yang CHOW; Pui Ling Pauline LOW; Mohd Aqram HANUSI; Mohaimi MOHAMED
Original assignee: Sime Darby Plantation Intellectual Property Sdn. Bhd.
Priority date: 2019-04-09
Filing date: 2020-01-31
Publication date: 2020-10-15

Abstract

The present invention provides a process and a smartphone app for tracking movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) via a smart phone app, email or web based dashboard, wherein the downloaded app includes a census button (33), a bagging button (34), a quality check after bagging button (35), a pollination button (36), a quality check after pollination button (37), a harvesting button (38), a deliver button (39) and a reception button (40). The present invention also provides a process and a smartphone app for tracking movement of male inflorescences (90) harvested from oil palm father palm (Pisifera) via a smart phone app, email or web based dashboard, wherein the downloaded app includes a census button (72), a bagging button (73), a quality check after bagging button (74), a harvesting button (75), a deliver button (76), a reception button (77), a transfer button (78), an inflorescence drying button (79), a pollen drying button (80), a vial packing button (81), a viability test button (82), a legitimacy test button (83), a pollen request button (84), a puffer mix button (85), a puffer issuance (collect) button (86), a puffer issuance (return) button (87) and a puffer check button (88).

Description

PROCESS FOR MONITORING OIL PALM SEED PROCESSES BY TRACKING AND TRACING MOVEMENT OF OIL PALM FRESH FRUIT BUNCHES (FFB) HARVESTED FROM OIL PALM MOTHER PALMS AND MALE

INFLORESCENCES HARVESTED FROM OIL PALM FATHER PALMS

The present invention relates generally to a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms {Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit, oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers and male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof. More particularly to a smartphone app for tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from oil palm mother palms {Dura) from a plantation to seed production unit, oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers and male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Oil palm is a monoecious plant and the sex ratio of the female to male inflorescences on each palm is important for breeding and commercial production. Production of oil palm fruit bunches is influenced by several factors such as nutrients, water, carbohydrate supply and pollination. Pollination depends on the pollen supply and pollinator activity. Changes to any of these may decrease or increase the level of fruit bunch production. Nutrient deficiencies, poor pollination or inefficient pollinator activity - either separately or combined will lead to low bunch production. Inefficient pollination can cause poor fruit set and result in bunch failure and loss in yield. This was a problem in the early days of oil palm cultivation especially in young palms that produce insufficient male inflorescences. Young female inflorescences were bagged at least a week before anthesis and hand pollinated at the first sign of anthesis. Pollen was injected through a small hole in the bag which was then re-closed. Pollen was collected from anthesising male inflorescences of commercial DxP palms and its viability tested by incubation in a 10% sucrose solution containing 15 drops of 5% boric acid solution. Hand pollination was carried out using only pollen with more than 60% viability. The pollen for each treatment was mixed with 2g talcum powder before puffing on the anthesising female inflorescence. Each inflorescence received only one application of pollen, in order to induce low fruit set levels. The ripe bunches were harvested about 5 months after pollination. [Source: Fruit Set and Oil Palm Bunch Components, Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2002, p. 24-33]

As mentioned above, each oil palm tree bears male and female flowers on separate inflorescences which requires pollen to be transferred by winds or insects. Previously, oil palm plantations in Malaysia relied on wind pollination and also oil palm insect pollinators such as Thrips hawaiiensis and Pyroderces sp. Hand pollination also was developed and then the introduction of the weevil Elaeidobius kamerunensis as the main pollinator for oil palm to address pool natural pollination problem. [Source: Effectiveness of the oil palm pollinating weevil, Elaeidobius kamerunicus in Malaysia, Agriculture Science Journal, T.M. Teo]

The productivity of an oil palm plantation depends on many factors, including the critical starting point of the quality of the germinated oil palm seeds derived from cross pollination of selected parental palms used for planting. The production of high quality germinated oil palm seeds is also very dependent on good management practices at a seed production unit. The oil palm seed production unit that generates germinated oil palm seeds is the first link in the palm oil supply chain, followed by the nursery to produce seedling, the plantation to produce FFB, the mill to produce crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel, the kernel crushers to produce palm kernel oil, the refinery to produce refined palm oil and finally the palm biodiesel plant to produce palm biodiesel. [Source: Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Oil Palm Seeds, Tropical Life Sciences Research, 2014 Dec; 25(2): 41-51]

Seed quality is of crucial importance to growers which would guarantee the economic success of plantations. This quality is the cumulated outcome of two complementary approaches - firstly a genetic improvement programme linked to a seed production strategy that incorporates this genetic progress and secondly, the strictness with which this technical know-how is applied to produce seeds. It is of course difficult, if not impossible for a farmer to judge the quality of a breeding programme. Neither does the farmer has access for the moment to a public or professional organization possessing reliable information on the production potential or resistance to certain diseases of seeds proposed to the market. Breeders with very different resources and capacities can be found on this market and only a few have been able to develop long-running programmes that lead to regular genetic progress. Apart from the genetic improvement programme as mentioned in the paragraph above, quality of the seeds is also cumulated via a seed production strategy that incorporates the genetic progress and strictness which the technical know-how is applied in producing seeds. [Source: Oil Palm Seed Distribution, Tristan DURAND- GASSELIN et. at.]

The mother palm is called a Dura which has a thick shell and the father palm is called a Pisifera, which is shell-less. The cross between Dura and Pisifera palms is a hybrid called Tenera. The hybrid Tenera fruits have a thin shell and produces oil up to more than 30% more than their parents. These fruit forms are governed by the shell thickness gene (5/7). The discovery of Sh gene made it possible to produce '100% Tenera' seeds which is understood as the degree of purity of the seeds, usually expressed by Tenera percentage or conversely by the degree of Dura contamination. Dura contamination is generally linked to poor planting materials as Dura is considered as low quality seeds as it has thick shells and oil content is low. Most breeders guarantee over 99% purity of seeds produced, however, in reality can only be detected 3 years after planting and spending considerable amount of production costs. Only strict technical organization and rigorous internal control would enable production of high quality planting materials year after year.

The sustainability of the oil palm industry not only requires the availability of high quality planting material but also its continuous improvement to remain competitive. Dura contamination is a continuous concern for oil palm seed producers. In the absence of molecular marker tools to assess seed purity, the contaminated seeds cannot be detected until the palm tree starts to bear fruit, which would translate to lower extraction rates at the mills. [Source: Ensuring the Continuous Improvement and Quality of Dami Seeds, F. Dumortier et.ai]

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analytical tool to assess the environmental impact of any products or services which quantifies environmental impacts of a product during its life cycle. The LCA project on the Malaysian oil palm industry including palm biodiesel was completed by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) in 2010, which research involved a cradle-to-grave analysis from cultivation of oil palm seedlings to the production and use of biodiesel whereby it was noted that one of the gaps to be filled in order to obtain a complete LCA of palm oil production is the LCA of germinated oil palm seeds. MPOB offers LCA consulting services to the oil palm industry in various stages of the supply chain, from seed production to the production and use of palm biodiesel. [Source: MPOB Information Series - ISSN 1511-7871-June 2012 - Life Cycle Assessment of Germinated Oil Palm Seeds] Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn. Bhd. (AAR) performs strict operations of its seed production laboratory, whereby the oil palm seed variety improvement is obtained from combination of excellent characteristics of various traits through plant breeding technique. The procedures in the seed production laboratory are as follows:

a. The harvested FFBs in the plastic barrel are delivered to the seed production laboratory.

b. The plastic barrels are neatly arranged.

c. The FFBs are sent to the detaching machine to remove fruits from the bunch.

d. The FFBs are dropped into the detaching machine.

e. The fruits are extracted from the detaching machine.

f. Empty bunches are left in the detaching machine.

g. Fruits collected are placed into the depericarper in order to extract the seeds from the mesocarps.

h. Stripped mesocarps are released from the machine.

i. The seeds are extracted from the machine.

j. Seeds are soaked in the water for 4 days in order to increase the moisture level.

k. The seeds are air-dried by fan.

L. Seeds are kept in hot room with the temperature of 40°C for 60 days.

m. Seeds are sent to the germination room.

n. Selection of good quality oil palm seeds takes place.

o. Process of counting and packing 250 seeds in each packet.

p. The last stage of germinated seed selection takes place.

q. Boxes for shipping the oil palm seeds to the customers are sealed for security purposes.

r. Rejected seeds are smashed by using machine to reduce the risk of re-sale in the market.

[Source: The Strict Quality Control of Oil Palm Seed Production Fruitful Foundation for Planters]

BASF's timeline is around 2020 to establish processes that allow an upstream traceability for the palm oil and palm kernel oil purchased by BASF back to the mill. BASF's RSPO (round table on sustainable palm oil)-certified sustainable palm kernel oil is traceable back to the oil mill level. The objective here is to separate palm oil that is not RSPO-certified and can be physically traced back to its plantation of origin. [Source: Our Journey Towards Sustainable Oil Palm Products , Palm Progress Report 2016, BASF] Asian Agri (one of Indonesia's largest palm oil producers) has developed a solid traceability system which achieved 100% FFB traceability (in 2017). Asian Agri currently has 20 palm oil mills in North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi and the FFB traceability system allows the company to know exactly which plantation each FFB it receives originates from. Common data used in the traceability system includes the estate or supplier's name, owner, location (GPS coordinates), plantation size, type of organization, productivity, production data and land history. [Source: https://www.asianagri.com/en/medias/media/articles/asian-agrhs-palm- oil-traceability-system-explained]

There still remains a need in the art to provide a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit, oil palm seeds from the seed production unit till delivery to its customers and male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms (Pisifera) from a plantation to a pollen lab seed production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof to ensure production of high quality planting materials and traceability of the oil palm seeds produced for customers. More particularly, a smartphone app for tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit, oil palm seeds from seed production unit to its customers and male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms (Pisifera) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit as the productivity of an oil palm plantation depends on many factors and the most important starting point is the quality of the oil palm seeds derived from cross pollination of selected parental palms in producing quality oil palm seeds for customers. Due to the complexity of the business operating procedures, there is no off-the-shelf solution currently that is able to address the tracking and traceability of the oil palm planting materials (oil palm seeds) from controlled pollination in the plantation to monitoring movement of the oil palm FFB harvested to the seed production unit to delivery of germinated seeds to the customers. Flence, the present invention is a customized solution based on the current needs and requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of assigning oil palm trees with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location, scanning the oil palm trees using a near-field communication (NFC) tag to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number, scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB using the NFC tag or a quick response (QR) code to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and the QR code, bagging and recording of female inflorescences of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, checking the quality after the bagging of the female inflorescences of the oil palm FFB by checking and verifying details as recorded, pollinating the female inflorescences with pollen in powder form using a puffer type bottle to perform a controlled pollination, whereby the app will alert a warning if the pollen that will be used is not authorized for the pollination, recording details on the controlled pollination to verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescence, puffer bottle QR code, puffer bottle serial number and puffer bottle brand, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a first time by checking and verifying details as recorded, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a second time by checking and verifying details as recorded, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a third time by checking and verifying details as recorded, recording details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, recording details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date and recording details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit by scanning the NFC tag or the QR code, whereby the oil palm FFB can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal, a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag.

The present invention further provides a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of assigning oil palm trees with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location, scanning the oil palm trees using a near-field communication (NFC) tag to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number, scanning, recording and verifying the male inflorescences using the NFC tag (52) or a QR code to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and QR code, bagging and recording of the male inflorescences to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, checking the quality after the bagging of the male inflorescences by checking and verifying details as recorded, recording details on harvesting of the male inflorescences to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, recording details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the seed production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date, recording details of the male inflorescences as received at the seed production unit by scanning the NFC tag or the QR code whereby the oil palm FFB can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal, a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag, recording and verifying details on drying of the male inflorescences, recording and verifying details on packing of dried pollen grains in vials such as the vial weight and the pollen weight and movement of the pollen vials using the QR code, recording and verifying details on viability tests of the male inflorescences and the pollen, recording and verifying details on legitimacy tests of the male inflorescences and the pollen, recording details of pollen requests and puffer mix in puffer type bottles for use at oil palm plantations and recording details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix in puffer type bottes using a QR code for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles to the pollen lab production unit, whereby the puffer type bottles can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in the QR code and pollens from the male inflorescences are stored in the vials in a temperature range of between -20°C to -10°C until the pollens are required for the controlled pollination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features of the present invention may have been referred by embodiments as illustrated in the appended drawings. The appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

Figure 1 illustrates the process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms {Dura} from a plantation to a seed production unit and oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers.

Figure 2 illustrates the buttons on the smartphone app for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms [Dura} from a plantation to a seed production unit and oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers.

Figure 3 illustrates the process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera } from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit.

Figure 4 illustrates the buttons on the smartphone app for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera } from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit.

Figure 5 illustrates the female and male inflorescences.

Figure 6 illustrates the near-field communication (NFC) tag.

Figure 7 illustrates the quick response (QR) code.

Figure 8 illustrates the QR code security seal.

Figure 9 illustrates the vial / pollen vial.

Figure 10 illustrates the puffer bottle with its puffer QR code, puffer serial number and puffer brand.

Figure 11 illustrates the puffer mix package.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION While the present invention is described herein by way of example using illustrative drawings and embodiments, it should be understood that the detailed description is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed but in contrary the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention.

The present invention is described herein by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the features through the description. However, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Therefore, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure would be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of invention to those skilled in the art. Numeric values and ranges and materials as provided in the detailed description are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and is not intended as limiting in scope. The words such as "including", "comprising", "having", "containing" or "involving" and other variations is intended to be broad and cover the subject matter as described including equivalents and additional subject matter not recited such as other components or steps.

Various modifications to these embodiments as described herein are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments are shown with the accompanying drawings but is to provide the broadest scope possible as consistent with the novel and inventive features disclosed. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claims.

"Census" for this present invention refers to the checking of the male inflorescences (90) or female inflorescences (89). Referring to Figure 5, inflorescences are formed on the oil palm tree throughout the year in leaf axils, whereby the inflorescences of both sexes is a compound spadix with 100 to 200 branches. Male inflorescence (90) bears individual staminate flowers, whereas the female inflorescence (89) produces floral triads consisting of a pistillate flower bordered by two accompanying staminate flowers.

"Bagging" for this present invention refers to the use of terylene bag to cover the male inflorescences

(90) or female inflorescences (89).

"Quality check after bagging" for this present invention means quality check to be performed on the condition of the male inflorescences (90) or female inflorescences (89) after the bagging step.

"Pollination" for this present invention means the act of transferring pollen grains using a puffer bottle (95) which are labelled with a unique QR code (92) to the female inflorescences (89).

"Quality check after pollination" for this present invention refers to the quality checking of the condition of the pollinated female inflorescences (89).

"Harvesting" for this present invention means the process of collecting anthesized male inflorescences (90) or the gathering of pollinated bunches from the oil palm plantation.

"Anthesized male inflorescences" for this present invention means the flowers of male inflorescences (90) which are fully open and functional, ready to be harvested for pollen extraction at the pollen lab.

"Anthesized female inflorescences" for this present invention means the flowers of female inflorescences (89) are fully open and functional, ready for pollination.

"Pisifera Anthesis Rate" for this present invention means the percentage rate of flowers of the male inflorescences (90) which are fully open and functional and ready to be harvested for pollen extraction.

"Dura Receptive Rate" for this present invention means the percentage rate of flowers of the female inflorescences (89) which are fully open and functional and ready for pollination.

"Delivery" or "deliver" for this present invention means the transfer of the anthesized male inflorescences (90) or pollinated FFB from the oil palm plantation to the seed production unit. "Bunch reception" for this present invention means the act of receiving pollinated FFB at the seed production unit.

"Inflorescences drying" for this present invention means the drying of male inflorescences (90) or process of dehydration of the inflorescences which would result in the inflorescences appearing in the form of pollen grains after drying of the inflorescences after a certain time period.

"Pollen" or "pollen grains" for this present invention means grains produced by the male inflorescences (90).

"Pollen drying" for this present invention refers to the drying of pollen or pollen grains in the oven or heat chamber.

"Viability test" for this present invention means a lab test where the pollens are tested in vitro on an agar- sucrose medium under a microscopic inspection to measure the number of pollen grains which are germinated. These germinated pollens represent the number of viable pollens that are alive and could be used for pollination.

"Legitimacy test" for this present invention means a destructive lab test to determine whether the parental identity is true. This is done when the oil palm seeds are genetically tested by analysing its Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences and extracting information of the parental identity. These genetic markers will be used to match a predefined database that reveals whether these oil palm seeds are legitimate according to the pollination records.

"Puffer" for this present invention refers to a bottle with small tube that allows the act of puffing the pollen grains to the female inflorescences (89).

"Puffer mix" for this present invention means the puffer bottles (95) containing pollen grains and talcum powder. Referring to Fteure 6. "near-field communication (NFC) tag" for this present invention refers to a set of communication protocols that enable two electronic devices one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to establish communication by bringing them within a certain distance of each other. The NFC tag (91) will ease the scanning process and act as another identifier for the male inflorescences (90) in the case whereby the QR code security seal (93) are lost/missing or unable to be read by the smartphone app. The QR code security seal (93) serves a unique identifier for the oil palm FFB from bagging stage till it arrives at the seed production unit.

"Puffer issuance (collect), puffer issuance (return), puffer check" for this present invention refers to the act of issuance, collection and return of puffer bottles (95) between the lab and the supervisors at the oil palm plantation that are used for pollination in the plantation.

"Pollen request" for this present invention means the request of puffer bottles (95) from oil palm plantation supervisors to the lab according to the receptive inflorescences at the oil palm plantation.

"Germinated oil palm seed" for this present invention means the dormancy of the oil palm seeds that have been broken resulting in the emergence of radicle (root) and plumule (shoot).

"Average FFB per oil palm tree" for this present invention means the total census data divide total oil palm trees.

"Average field recovery" for this present invention means the total accepted FFB at the seed production unit divide total census data.

"Average oil palm seed per FFB" for this present invention means the total fresh oil palm seeds (at first seed counting) divide total FFB.

"Average purity of oil palm seeds (controlled pollination process)" for this present invention means the purity percentage of oil palm seeds harvested from the plantation and received at the seed production unit, whereby the total oil palm seeds which passed the legitimacy test to be divided with the total oil palm seeds sampled at bunch reception. Sampling of these oil palm seeds for legitimacy test can also be conducted at other processes within the seed production unit when necessary. "Average germination success rate" for this present invention means the total germinated oil palm seeds divide the total pre-heated seeds which are allocated in the germination room.

"Average germination recover/' for this present invention means the total acceptable oil palm seeds sorted for sales divide the total germinated oil palm seeds.

"Overall purity rate" for this present invention refers to purity percentage of sellable germinated oil palm seeds guaranteed for customers.

Referring to Figure 1. the present invention provides a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of assigning oil palm trees (1) with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location, scanning the oil palm trees (2) using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number, scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB (3) using the NFC tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code (92) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and the QR code (92), bagging and recording of female inflorescences (4) of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, checking the quality after the bagging of the female inflorescences (5) of the oil palm FFB by checking and verifying details as recorded, pollinating the female inflorescences (6) with pollen in powder form using a puffer type bottle (95) to perform a controlled pollination, recording details on the controlled pollination (7) to verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescence, puffer bottle QR code, puffer bottle serial number and puffer bottle brand, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a first time (8) by checking and verifying details as recorded, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a second time (9) by checking and verifying details as recorded, checking quality after the controlled pollination for a third time (10) by checking and verifying details as recorded, recording details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB (11) to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, recording details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit (12) to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date and recording details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit (13) by scanning the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92), whereby the oil palm FFB can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal (93), a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag (91). The present invention further provides a process for tracking and tracing movement of the oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof are conducted using the following steps sampling of the oil palm seeds for legitimacy assessment (14) to ensure the oil palm seeds are legitimate according to pollination records, allocating oil palm FFB into containers at a retting area (15) in order to monitor separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of the FFB, recording details such as separation time and FFB ID number on the separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of FFB (16), recording details such as time of depericarping and FFB ID number on separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds (oil palm loose fruits depericarping) for a first time (17), recording details on soaking of the oil palm loose fruits for soaking (18) to monitor and record processing time required to effectively soften the remaining mesocarp fibres for another round of oil palm loose fruit depericarping, recording details on the oil palm loose fruits depericarping for a second time (19) to record processing time required to completely remove the remaining mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds, scanning and recording fresh oil palm seeds count, size and markings (20) to capture number of oil palm seeds per FFB, size variety of the oil palm seeds and ID markings for traceability purposes, allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into fresh seed storage (21) to monitor timeline the oil palm seeds are stored in the fresh seed storage, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the oil palm seeds are stored for more than 6 months' in the fresh seed storage, sampling of the fresh oil palm seeds for moisture test (22) to ensure that the oil palm seeds meet a moisture content of between 17% to 20% prior to undergoing heat treatment, allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into seed racks inside a heat chamber (23) to produce pre-heated oil palm seeds, whereby the fresh oil palm seeds contained in the seed racks would enable ease of identifying location of the oil palm seeds, allocating of the pre-heated oil palm seeds into pre-heated seeds storage (24) to monitor timeline the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored in the pre-heated seeds storage while awaiting for sales order, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored for more than 2 months' in the pre-heated seeds storage, recording details on soaking of the pre-heated oil palm seeds (25) which produces soaked oil palm seeds to monitor and record desired time for the pre-heated oil palm seeds to achieve a moisture content of more than 21% prior to a germination process, sampling of the soaked oil palm seeds for moisture test (26) to ensure that the soaked oil palm seeds meet the moisture content of more than 21%, allocating the soaked oil palm seeds into a germination room (27) to produce germinated oil palm seeds, recording details on the condition of the germinated oil palm seeds (28) to separate the germinated oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers, allocating the germinated oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers into a cold room (29), recording details of packing of the germinated oil palm seeds sealed with security seals (30) to produce packed oil palm seeds that are safely secured for delivery the customers, allocating the packed oil palm seeds into a holding room (31) ready for delivery to the customers and recording and verifying details of the packed oil palm seeds for delivery to the customers (32).

Referring to Figure 2, the present invention also provides a smartphone app according to the process of Claim 1 for tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms Dura ) from a plantation to a seed production unit and to customers, the smartphone app including a census button (33) for scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and QR code (92), a bagging button (34) for recording bagging of female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, a quality check after bagging button (35) to check and verify details of the oil palm FFB after the bagging of the female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB, a pollination button (36) to record details on controlled pollination after checking and verifying details of the oil palm FFB to further verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescences (90), puffer type bottle QR code, puffer type bottle serial number and puffer type bottle brand (95), a quality check after pollination button (37) to check and verify details of the controlled pollination, a harvesting button (38) to record details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number and bunch weight, a deliver button (39) to record details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date and a reception button (40) to record details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91), a sampling button (41) to record details of sampling of oil palm seeds by scanning the NFC tag (52) and printing the QR code (92) for reference, a separation button (42) to record details on processing time and oil palm FFB such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of the separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of FFB, a depericarp button (43) to record the details on processing time and the oil palm loose fruits such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of depericarping process on the separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds, a washing button (44) to record if the oil palm seeds have been washed, a drying button (45) to record drying time for the oil palm seeds, a grading-counting button (46) to record number of seeds per FFB, size of the oil palm seeds, condition of the oil palm seeds and FFB ID number, whereby the oil palm seeds will be segregated into different bags labelled with QR codes (92), a fresh seed storage button (47) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the fresh seed storage such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a heat treatment button (48) to record details on heat treatment of the oil palm seeds in a heat chamber such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a pre-heated storage button (49) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a soaking button (50) to record details on soaking time for the oil palms seeds, a drying soaking button (51) to record details on drying time for the oil palm seeds, a germination room button (52) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the germination room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a sorting button (53) to record the details of sorting process of the oil palm seeds such as condition of the oil palm seeds, size of the oil palm seeds, aging time, number of oil palm seeds and storage bag ID number, a holding room button (54) to record details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging time for the oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers, a cold room button (55) to record storage details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging times of the of the oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers, a shipment button (56) to record details such as request ID number, customer ID number, delivery order ID number, driver's ID number, type of transport, number of cartons, number of oil palm seeds, brand type and delivery status on delivery of the germinated oil palm seeds to the customers and a bunch inquiry button (57) to monitor overall process of the oil palm FFB by identifying current and historical data and providing full traceability data on the oil palm FFB.

Referring to Figure 3, the present invention provides a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of assigning oil palm trees (58) with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location, scanning the oil palm trees (59) using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number, scanning, recording and verifying the male inflorescences (60) using the NFC tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and QR code (92), bagging and recording of the male inflorescences (61) to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, checking the quality after the bagging of the male inflorescences (62) by checking and verifying details as recorded, recording details on harvesting of the male inflorescences (63) to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, recording details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit (64) to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date, recording details of the male inflorescences as received at the pollen lab production unit (65) by scanning the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92) whereby the oil palm FFB can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal (93), a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag (91), recording and verifying details on drying of the male inflorescences (66), recording and verifying details on packing of dried pollen grains in vials (67) such as vial (94) weight and pollen weight and movement of the pollen vials (94) using the QR code (92), recording and verifying details on viability tests (68) of the male inflorescences (90) and the pollen, recording and verifying details on legitimacy tests (69) of the male inflorescences (90) and the pollen, recording details of pollen requests and puffer mix (70) in puffer type bottles (95) for use at plantations and recording details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix (71) in puffer type bottes (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles (95) to the pollen lab production unit, whereby the puffer type bottles (95) can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in the QR code (92) and pollens from the male inflorescences are stored in the vials (94) in a temperature range of between -20°C to -10°C until the pollens are required for the controlled pollination.

Referring to Figure 4, the present invention refers to a smartphone app according to the process of Claim 4 for tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences (90) harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit, the smartphone app including a census button (72) for scanning, recording and verifying the male inflorescences using near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and QR code (92), a bagging button (73) for recording bagging of the male inflorescences to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, a quality check after bagging button (74) to check and verify details of the male inflorescences after the bagging of the male inflorescences, a harvesting button (75) to record details on harvesting of the male infloresnces to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, a deliver button (76) to record details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date, a reception button (77) to record details of the male inflorescences as received at the pollen lab production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91), a transfer button (78) to record details on the transfer and receipt of the male infloresnces at the seed production unit, an inflorescence drying button (79) to record details on the male inflorescences (90) drying methodology and timing process, a pollen drying button (80) to record details on the drying of the male inflorescences (90), a vial packing button (81) to record details on the packing of dried pollen grains in vials (94), a viability test button (82) to record details of viability tests of the male inflorescences (90), a legitimacy test button (83) to record details of legitimacy tests of the male inflorescences (90), a pollen request button (84) to record details of requests of pollen by requesters for use at the oil palm plantations, a puffer mix button (85) to record details of preparation of puffer mix for the requesters for use at the oil palm plantations and a puffer issuance (collect) button (86), a puffer issuance (return) button (87) and a puffer check button (88) to record details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix in puffer type bottes (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles (95) to the pollen lab production unit.

The productivity of an oil palm plantation depends on many factors and the most important starting point is the quality of the oil palm seeds derived from cross pollination of selected parental palms. Currently there are some problems being faced generally in the industry pertaining to the production of quality oil palm seeds such as described below. a. There are significant gaps in the current standard operating procedure to effectively guide the controlled pollination activities, which would result in illegitimate crossing of the seeds [i.e. Pollination by foreign contaminants that are illegitimate such as pollens of the Dura which could result in Dura contamination (the presence of Dura indicates planting material of inferior quality being planted in the oil palm plantation) or pollens of the Tenera palms or pollens of the unauthorized Pisifera palms]. b. There is no final checking or a verification step on the pollinated FFB received at the seed production unit. This is especially critical when the pollinated FFB that has been harvested becomes a loose item which may be easily swapped with any other illegitimate FFBs where these FFBs are generally difficult to be verified through human's naked eye. c. There are gaps in the recording, documentation and supervision pertaining to the processes at the plantation of handling the female and male inflorescences that may arise from incorrect data records or poor supervision which would result in illegitimate crossing, missed bagging, missed pollination, and missed harvesting period. d. Daily records pertaining to the movement and stock availability of the pollens are not properly maintained despite its systematic storing approach in the freezer. This would result in poor monitoring of the current state of the pollens in terms of its stock estimation, location and freshness. Furthermore, low viable pollens are expected to have FFB formation that is below par. e. Records on the harvested pollinated FFBs, loose fruits or seeds are generally done in manual means, therefore, the records are not adequately and consistently updated which would result in poor germination success.

All in all, the current processes are monitored and tracked using conventional paper and pen recording and therefore, the data are not as accurate as we would expect them to be and transparency level is very minimal too. Flence, this present invention would digitally enable the tracking the complete mechanism of the oil palm FFB from the plantation to the seed production unit, monitor seed inventory, receive wrong cross-pollination or low viability alerts, enable progeny tracing due to complaints by customers, monitor seed germination success rates, predict work schedules of the workers, monitor seed discards, predict production target based on committed sales and also estimate workers' incentive based on productivity.

Essentially, each worker and supervisor will be provided with a smartphone capable of NFC and bar-code scanning. Each personnel will be uniquely NFC tagged and each of the pre-mature bunches from the selected mother palms will be NFC tagged as well. The on-duty workers will be required to use the smartphones to record operational data including taking photos as evidence of works conducted. The tracking using the smartphone provides benefits for daily business operational procedures as a management tool for the overall master data (which would enable accessibility to pass data as well), management of daily and operational data and works, process scheduling for workers, process traceability of workers' ID, performance monitoring (actual work vs. targeted work), allows remote monitoring by managers, finished products (seeds) linked to individual customer names, monitoring of the seed inventory, prediction of seed production quantity and most importantly, traceability to its parental origin. The present invention solves the problems as discussed above and allows the reorganization and streamlining of standard operating procedures across the plantations, ensures that pollination activities are controlled thus preventing foreign pollen contamination (such as pollens of the Dura which could result in Dura contamination or pollens of the Tenera palms or pollens of the unauthorized Pisifera palms) or in-correct cross-pollination (such as an unauthorized crossing that may result to poor yield according to the breeding's proposal), prevents gaps or incomplete records of filed records by workers and supervisors in the plantation, improves supervision of the bagging, quality check and harvest processes for both male and female inflorescences (89, 90) in the oil palm plantation, monitors daily movement of the pollen inventory, improves seed inventory control based on demand and supply and controls and verifies correct seed planting material (i.e. germinated seeds) prior to customer delivery.

Apart from the above, as the process would take about 5 to 6 months before the FFB are received in the seed production unit, some unfortunate events could take place such as damages caused by pest, fungus or any abnormalities. Flence, in order to address this problem, the unique identifiers (QR code stalk security seal (93), QR code bunch security seal and NFC tag (91)) would essentially help users to easily track the growth of the male inflorescences (90) using the present invention. The end-to-end process using the present invention is to address the entire 9 months (minimum) of oil palm seed production cycle (as summarized in the table below), starting from mother palms as approved and identified by the breeders to the germinated seeds delivered to customers. This enables the seed producers to precisely track and trace planting material.

Therefore, the present invention provides a process to track oil palm FFB from the mother palms {Dura) from the plantation to a seed production unit for production of germinated seeds to be supplied to customers based on controlled pollination made possible and easily tracked via the smartphone app of the present invention. The tracking and tracing movement of the oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof are conducted using the following steps: i. sampling of the oil palm seeds for legitimacy assessment (14) to ensure the oil palm seeds are legitimate according to pollination records; ii. allocating oil palm FFB into containers at a retting area (15) in order to monitor separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of the FFB;

iii. recording details such as separation time and FFB ID number on the separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of FFB (16); iv. recording details such as time of depericarping and FFB ID number on separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds (oil palm loose fruits depericarping) for a first time (17);

v. recording details on soaking of the oil palm loose fruits for soaking (18) to monitor and record processing time required to effectively soften the remaining mesocarp fibres for another round of oil palm loose fruit depericarping; vi. recording details on the oil palm loose fruits depericarping for a second time (19) to record processing time required to completely remove the remaining mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds; vii. scanning and recording fresh oil palm seeds count, size and markings (20) to capture number of oil palm seeds per FFB, size variety of the oil palm seeds and ID markings for traceability purposes; viii. allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into fresh seed storage (21) to monitor timeline the oil palm seeds are stored in the fresh seed storage, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the oil palm seeds are stored for more than 6 months' in the fresh seed storage; ix. sampling of the fresh oil palm seeds for moisture test (22) to ensure that the oil palm seeds meet a moisture content of between 17% to 20% prior to undergoing heat treatment; x. allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into seed racks inside a heat chamber (23) to produce pre heated oil palm seeds, whereby the fresh oil palm seeds contained in the seed racks would enable ease of identifying location of the oil palm seeds; xi. allocating of the pre-heated oil palm seeds into pre-heated seeds storage (24) to monitor timeline the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored in the pre-heated seeds storage while awaiting for sales order, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored for more than 2 months' in the pre-heated seeds storage; xii. recording details on soaking of the pre-heated oil palm seeds (25) which produces soaked oil palm seeds to monitor and record desired time for the pre-heated oil palm seeds to achieve a moisture content of more than 21% prior to a germination process; xiii. sampling of the soaked oil palm seeds for moisture test (26) to ensure that the soaked oil palm seeds meet the moisture content of more than 21%; xiv. allocating the soaked oil palm seeds into a germination room (27) to produce germinated oil palm seeds; xv. recording details on the condition of the germinated oil palm seeds (28) to separate the germinated oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers; xvi. allocating the germinated oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers into a cold room (29); xvii. recording details of packing of the germinated oil palm seeds sealed with security seals (30) to produce packed oil palm seeds that are safely secured for delivery the customers; xviii. allocating the packed oil palm seeds into a holding room (31) ready for delivery to the customers; and xix. recording and verifying details of the packed oil paim seeds for delivery to the customers (32).

Essentially, all oil palm tree would be assigned with specific palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location which would be easily findable using the smartphone app of the present invention. A user would easily be able to record and verify the oil palm FFB using the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92) and would be able to view details (such as ID number, paim brand, trial number, QR code (92)) as assigned to the oil palm tree.

The present invention allows for the tracking of male inflorescences (90) from father palm ( Pisifera ) for the production of pollen for purposes of controlled pollination with female inflorescences (89). Flence, a fully traceable process from production of pollen, to cross pollination, to collection of FFB, to production of germinated seeds, and to delivery of seeds to customers are all digitally tracked and recorded. Not only that, the pollen goes through legitimacy and viability tests before being selected as "approved" for pollination process, hence pollination would only be carried out using pollen with 60 % and above viability. This viability percentage represents the number of viable pollens that are alive which are capable to pollinate with the anthesized female inflorescences (89).

Tracking of the male inflorescences (90) harvested from the father palms ( Pisifera ) involves a bagging and recording step of the male inflorescences (61) to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos uploaded as well. This will be followed by the checking the quality after the bagging of the male inflorescences (62) by checking and verifying details as recorded, including details on harvesting of the male inflorescences (63), delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit (64) by scanning its NFC tag (91) or QR code (92).

Details of the male inflorescences from father palm ( Pisifera ) will be recorded at the seed production unit (65) by scanning of its NFC tag (91) or its QR code (92) whereby the male inflorescences can be identified using its unique serial number encoded in the QR code stalk security seal (93), the QR code bunch security seal and NFC tag (91). After arriving at the seed production unit, the male inflorescences (90) will proceed to the drying or dehydration step which would result in the inflorescences appearing in the form of pollen grains after a certain time period. This would be followed by the packing of the dried pollen grains in vials (94). Details such as the vial (94) weight and pollen weight will be recorded. Apart from that, details of the movement of the pollen vials (94) between several pollen labs would also be recorded using a QR code (92). Viability tests (68) would be conducted to measure the number of pollen grains which are alive and could be used for the controlled pollination process and legitimacy tests (69) would also be conducted to validate the cross pollination between female inflorescences (89) and the pollen grains.

It is preferable for the pollens to be stored in vials (94) in a temperature range of between -20°C to -10°C cool place until the pollens are required for the controlled pollination (to prepare the puffer mix,). Temperatures above that range would be deemed as risk for the pollen's viability which may result in poor bunch formation. Once pollen request is received at the seed production unit, then only the puffer mix (96) would be prepared for the requester based on the viability test and legitimacy test conducted to pick the most suitable vials for puffer mixing. As mentioned above, pollination would only be carried out using pollen with 60% and more viability.

Details of pollen requests from the plantation and puffer mix (96) would also be recorded, including details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix (71) in the puffer type bottles (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles (95) to the pollen lab production unit. The puffer type bottles (95) can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in its QR code (92). Hence, all these steps from the process to prepare the puffer mix (96) for requester and for use in pollinating the female inflorescences (89) are all recorded and kept tracked via this present invention. Controlled pollination is performed using the pollen in powder form in a puffer type bottle (95) and all details of the controlled pollination are recorded including the puffer bottle QR code, puffer bottle serial number and puffer bottle brand.

After controlled pollination is performed and it is time for harvesting of the oil palm FFB or seed bunches, details of the harvesting of the FFB (11) would also be recorded and details verified such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight. Delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit (12) will also be recorded and details verified such as delivery number, transport number and date by scanning its NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92). The present invention would also allow for the recording of the bagging of the female inflorescences (4) of the oil palm FFB and to further check the quality of the bagging and verify details as recorded after the bagging of the female inflorescences (5). Details such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and even photos can be uploaded using the downloaded smartphone app of the present invention as a support or evidence for works done.

The present invention further provides an easily accessible and smartphone app to monitor, track and keep records of the entire process flow from the plantation until the seed production unit, and from the seed production unit till delivery to the customers.

The smartphone app for tracking and tracing the movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from the mother palms {Dura) consists of a census button (33) for scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and QR code (92), a bagging button (34) for recording bagging of female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, a quality check after bagging button (35) to check and verify details of the oil palm FFB after the bagging of the female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB, a pollination button (36) to record details on controlled pollination after checking and verifying details of the oil palm FFB to further verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescences, puffer type bottle QR code puffer type bottle serial number and puffer type bottle brand (95), a quality check after pollination button (37) to check and verify details of the controlled pollination, a harvesting button (38) to record details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number and bunch weight, a deliver button (39) to record details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date and a reception button (40) to record details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91).

The smartphone app for tracking and tracing oil palm seeds from seed production unit to its customers consists of a sampling button (41) to record details of sampling of oil palm seeds by scanning the NFC tag (52) and printing the QR code (92) for reference, a separation button (42) to record details on processing time and oil palm FFB such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of the separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of FFB, a depericarp button (43) to record the details on processing time and the oil palm loose fruits such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of depericarping process on the separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds, a washing button (44) to record if the oil palm seeds have been washed, a drying button (45) to record drying time for the oil palm seeds, a grading-counting button (46) to record number of seeds per FFB, size of the oil palm seeds, condition of the oil palm seeds and FFB ID number, whereby the oil palm seeds will be segregated into different bags labelled with QR codes (92), a fresh seed storage button (47) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the fresh seed storage such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a heat treatment button (48) to record details on heat treatment of the oil palm seeds in a heat chamber such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a pre-heated storage button (49) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a soaking button (50) to record details on soaking time for the oil palms seeds, a drying soaking button (51) to record details on drying time for the oil palm seeds, a germination room button (52) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the germination room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number, a sorting button (53) to record the details of sorting process of the oil palm seeds such as condition of the oil palm seeds, size of the oil palm seeds, aging time, number of oil palm seeds and storage bag ID number, a holding room button (54) to record details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging time for the oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers, a cold room button (55) to record storage details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging times of the of the oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers, a shipment button (56) to record details such as request ID number, customer ID number, delivery order ID number, driver's ID number, type of transport, number of cartons, number of oil palm seeds, brand type and delivery status on delivery of the germinated oil palm seeds to the customers and a bunch inquiry button (57) to monitor overall process of the oil palm FFB by identifying current and historical data and providing full traceability data on the oil palm FFB.

The smartphone app for tracking and tracing the movement of male inflorescences (90) harvested from the father palms ( Pisifera ) consists of a census button (72) for scanning, recording and verifying the male inflorescences using NFC tag (91) or a QR code (92) to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and QR code (92), a bagging button (73) for recording bagging of the male inflorescences to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos, a quality check after bagging button (74) to check and verify details of the oil palm FFB after the bagging of the male inflorescences, a harvesting button (75) to record details on harvesting of the male inflorescences to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight, a deliver button (76) to record details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date, a reception button (77) to record details of the male inflorescences as received at the pollen lab production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91), a transfer button (78) to record details on the transfer and receipt of the male inflorescences at the pollen lab production unit, an inflorescence drying button (79) to record details on the male inflorescences (90) drying methodology and timing process, a pollen drying button (80) to record details on the drying of the male inflorescences (90), a vial packing button (81) to record details on the packing of dried pollen grains in vials (94), a viability test button (82) to record details of viability tests of the male inflorescences (90), a legitimacy test button (83) to record details of legitimacy tests of the male inflorescences (90) and pollen whereby the smartphone app would suggest to discard the illegitimate pollens, a pollen request button (84) to record details of requests of pollen by requesters for use at the plantation, a puffer mix button (85) to record details of preparation of puffer mix for the requesters for use at the plantation and a puffer issuance (collect) button (86), a puffer issuance (return) button (87) and a puffer check button (88) to record details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix (96) in puffer type bottes (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles to the pollen lab production unit.

The smartphone app is also able to calculate average FFB per oil palm tree, average field recovery, average oil palm seeds per FFB, average purity of the oil palm seeds (controlled pollination process), average germination success rate of the oil palm seeds, average germination recovery, and overall purity rate. These data are of importance to seed producers with regards to assessing the purity of seeds produced, however, some producers do not even have these data and those who do, struggle to obtain accurate readings for most of these data and therefore, do not have a link between seed produced and the purity of the seeds. As mentioned above, most breeders guarantee over 99% purity of seeds produced, however, in reality can only be detected 3 years after planting and spending considerable amount of production costs. Flence, this app of the present invention provides accurate / guaranteed data on the purity of the seeds produced. Furthermore, these data can also be used to predict the amount of sellable germinated seeds produced at a specified time required for sales more accurately. In the past, the use of handheld devices was not prominent. Hence, paper records were used in the plantation and those paper records would need to be re-entered in the web application which is located in the office. This method of recording is quite challenging as the workers do not have direct access to the web application at all times and data maybe entered wrongly or not entered at all since paper records are not easily traceable. This present invention further allows for automatic identification of brands of seeds produced at the seed producing unit based on the crossing of each Dura bunch with the Pisifera pollen at the pollination stage, which would help its users to closely monitor illegitimate crossing, Dura receptive rate and Pisifera anthesis rate.

Advantageously, the present invention involves the usage of handheld devices which allow plantation workers to have direct access for recording their work at all times and in any location, and for high visibility of works conducted on a day to day basis. Hence, the data is easily traceable and accessible to all users including field workers, staff and executives which allows the workers in the oil palm plantation to record and take pictures as evidence for their work from start to end, allows for the tracking of location of the mother and father palms, able to control pollination activities and contamination of seed bunches can be detected prior to sending the bunches to the production line, allows supervision of supervisors and executives to verify and check works according to each unique bunch and male inflorescences (90) and monitoring of daily movement of the pollen inventory.

As it is impossible to test origin of oil palm seedlings immediately or to have complete records of the entire process from the plantation to seed production unit or from seed production unit to its customers or even to trace back origin of seedlings to its parents, there remains a need in the art to provide a process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from oil palm mother palms {Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit, oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to the customers, and male inflorescences (90) harvested from oil palm father palms (Pisifera) from a plantation to a seed production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof to ensure production of high quality planting materials. More particularly, a smartphone app for tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm FFB harvested from oil palm mother palms (Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit, the oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to the customers and male inflorescences (90) harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit.

Claims

1. A process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms

(Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of: a) assigning oil palm trees (1) with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location; b) scanning the oil palm trees (2) using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number; c) scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB (3) using the NFC tag (91) or a quick response (Q.R) code (92) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and the QR code (92); d) bagging and recording of female inflorescences (4) of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos; e) checking the quality after the bagging of the female inflorescences (5) of the oil palm FFB by checking and verifying details as recorded; f) pollinating the female inflorescences (6) with pollen in powder form using a puffer type bottle (95) to perform a controlled pollination; g) recording details on the controlled pollination (7) to verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescence, puffer bottle QR code, puffer bottle serial number and puffer bottle brand; h) checking quality after the controlled pollination for a first time (8) by checking and verifying details as recorded; i) checking quality after the controlled pollination for a second time (9) by checking and verifying details as recorded; j) checking quality after the controlled pollination for a third time (10) by checking and verifying details as recorded; k) recording details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB (11) to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight;

L) recording details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit (12) to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date; and m) recording details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit (13) by scanning the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92), whereby the oil palm FFB can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal (93), a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag (91).

2. The process according to Claim 1, wherein a further process is provided for tracking and tracing movement of oil palm seeds from the seed production unit to customers via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof are conducted using the following steps: a) sampling of the oil palm seeds for legitimacy assessment (14) to ensure the oil palm seeds are legitimate according to pollination records; b) allocating oil palm FFB into containers at a retting area (15) in order to monitor separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of the FFB; c) recording details such as separation time and FFB ID number on the separation of oil palm loose fruits from the stalk of the FFB (16);

d) recording details such as time of depericarping and FFB ID number on separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds (oil palm loose fruits depericarping) for a first time (17); e) recording details on soaking of the oil palm loose fruits for soaking (18) to monitor and record processing time required to effectively soften the remaining mesocarp fibres for a further round of oil palm loose fruit depericarping; f) recording details on the oil palm loose fruits depericarping for a second time (19) to record processing time required to completely remove the mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds; g) scanning and recording fresh oil palm seeds count, size and markings (20) to capture number of oil palm seeds per FFB, size variety of the oil palm seeds and ID markings for traceability purposes; h) allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into fresh seed storage (21) to monitor timeline the oil palm seeds are stored in the fresh seed storage, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the oil palm seeds are stored for more than 6 months' in the fresh seed storage; i) sampling of the fresh oil palm seeds for moisture test (22) to ensure that the oil palm seeds meet a moisture content of between 17% to 20% prior to undergoing heat treatment; j) allocating the fresh oil palm seeds into seed racks inside a heat chamber (23) to produce pre heated oil palm seeds, whereby the fresh oil palm seeds contained in the seed racks would enable ease of identifying location of the oil palm seeds; k) allocating of the pre-heated oil palm seeds into pre-heated seeds storage (24) to monitor timeline the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored in the pre-heated seeds storage while awaiting for sales order, whereby a trigger would be generated in the event the pre-heated oil palm seeds are stored for more than 2 months' in the pre-heated seeds storage; L) recording details on soaking of the pre-heated oil palm seeds (25) which produces soaked oil palm seeds to monitor and record desired time for the pre-heated oil palm seeds to achieve a moisture content of more than 21% prior to a germination process; m) sampling of the soaked oil palm seeds for moisture test (26) to ensure that the soaked oil palm seeds meet the moisture content of more than 21%; n) allocating the soaked oil palm seeds into a germination room (27) to produce germinated oil palm seeds; o) recording details on the condition of the germinated oil palm seeds (28) to separate the germinated oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers; p) allocating the germinated oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers into a cold room (29); q) recording details of packing of the germinated oil palm seeds sealed with security seals (30) to produce packed oil palm seeds; r) allocating the packed oil palm seeds into a holding room (31) ready for delivery to the customers; and s) recording and verifying details of the packed oil palm seeds for delivery to the customers (32).

3. A smartphone app according to the process of Claim 1 for tracking and tracing movement of controlled pollinated Dura x Pisifera (DxP) oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvested from oil palm mother palms Dura) from a plantation to a seed production unit and oil palm seeds to customers, the smartphone app including: a) a census button (33) for scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code (92) to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and the QR code (92); b) a bagging button (34) for recording bagging of female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos; c) a quality check after bagging button (35) to check and verify details of the oil palm FFB after the bagging of the female inflorescences (89) of the oil palm FFB; d) a pollination button (36) to record details on controlled pollination after checking and verifying details of the oil palm FFB to further verify particulars such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number, receptive rate of the male inflorescences (90), puffer bottle QR code, puffer bottle serial number and puffer bottle brand; e) a quality check after pollination button (37) to check and verify details of the controlled pollination; f) a harvesting button (38) to record details on harvesting of the oil palm FFB to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, stalk serial number, bunch serial number and bunch weight; g) a deliver button (39) to record details on delivery of the oil palm FFB to the seed production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date; and h) a reception button (40) to record details of the oil palm FFB as received at the seed production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92); i) a sampling button (41) to record details of sampling of the oil palm seeds by scanning the NFC tag (91) and printing the QR code (92) for reference; j) a separation button (42) to record details on processing time and oil palm FFB such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of the separation of oil palm loose fruits from stalk of FFB; k) a depericarp button (43) to record the details on processing time and the oil palm loose fruits such as date, FFB ID number, start and end time of depericarping process on the separation of mesocarp fibres from the oil palm seeds;

L) a washing button (44) to record if the oil palm seeds have been washed; m) a drying button (45) to record drying time for the oil palm seeds; n) a grading-counting button (46) to record number of seeds per FFB, size of the oil palm seeds, condition of the oil palm seeds and FFB ID number, whereby the oil palm seeds wiil be segregated into different bags labelled with R codes (92); o) a fresh seed storage button (47) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the fresh seed storage such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number; p) a heat treatment button (48) to record details on heat treatment of the oil palm seeds in a heat chamber such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number. q) a pre-heated storage button (49) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number; r) a soaking button (50) to record details on soaking time for the oil palms seeds; s) a drying soaking button (51) to record details on drying time for the oil palm seeds; t) a germination room button (52) to record details on storage location of the oil palm seeds in the germination room such as rack ID number, aging time, FFB ID number and bag ID number; u) a sorting button (53) to record the details of sorting process of the oil palm seeds such as condition of the oil palm seeds, size of the oil palm seeds, aging time, number of oil palm seeds and storage bag ID number; v) a holding room button (54) to record details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging time for the oil palm seeds which are ready for purchase by the customers; w) a cold room button (55) to record storage details such as rack ID number, FFB ID number, bag ID number and aging times of the of the oil palm seeds which are not ready for purchase by the customers; x) a shipment button (56) to record details such as request ID number, customer ID number, delivery order ID number, driver's ID number, type of transport, number of cartons, number of oil palm seeds, brand type and delivery status on delivery of germinated oil palm seeds to the customers; and xi) a bunch inquiry button (57) to monitor overall process of the oil palm FFB by identifying current and historical data and providing full traceability data on the oil palm FFB.

4. The smartphone app according to Claim 3, wherein the smartphone app is able to calculate average FFB per oil palm tree, average field recovery, average oil palm seeds per FFB, average purity of the oil palm seeds (controlled pollination process), average germination success rate of the oil palm seeds, average germination recovery, and overall purity rate.

5. A process for monitoring oil palm seed processes by tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences harvested from oil palm father palms (Pisifera) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit via a smart phone app, email, web based dashboard or any combination thereof, wherein the process including the steps of: a) assigning oil palm trees (58) with data such as palm identification (ID) number, family name, palm brand and GPS location; b) scanning the oil palm trees (59) using a near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number; c) scanning, recording and verifying the male inflorescences (60) using the NFC tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code (92) to record and view information such as the palm ID number, the palm brand, the palm gender, the cluster and trial number and QR code (92); d) bagging and recording of the male inflorescences (61) to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos; e) checking the quality after the bagging of the male inflorescences (62) by checking and verifying details as recorded; f) recording details on harvesting of the male inflorescences (63) to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight; g) recording details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit (64) to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date; h) recording details of the male inflorescences as received at the pollen lab production unit (65) by scanning the NFC tag (91) or the QR code (92) whereby the male inflorescences can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in a QR code stalk security seal (93), a QR code bunch security seal and the NFC tag (91); i) recording and verifying details on drying of the male inflorescences (66); j) recording and verifying details on packing of dried pollen grains in vials (67) such as vial (94) weight and pollen weight and movement of the pollen vials (94) using the QR code (92); k) recording and verifying details on viability tests (68) of the male inflorescences (90) and the pollen; L) recording and verifying details on legitimacy tests (69) of the male inflorescences (90) and the pollen; m) recording details of pollen requests and puffer mix (70) in puffer type bottles (95) for use at the plantation; and n) recording details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix (71) in puffer type bottles (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles (95) to the pollen lab production unit, whereby the puffer type bottles (95) can be identified using a unique serial number encoded in the QR code (92); and

pollens from the male inflorescences (90) are stored in the vials (94) in a temperature range of between - 20°C to -10°C until the pollens are required for controlled pollination.

6. A smartphone app according to the process of Claim 5 for tracking and tracing movement of male inflorescences (90) harvested from oil palm father palms ( Pisifera ) from a plantation to a pollen lab production unit, the smartphone app including: a) a census button (72) for scanning, recording and verifying the oil palm FFB using near-field communication (NFC) tag (91) or a quick response (QR) code (92) to record and view information such as palm ID number, palm brand, palm gender, cluster and trial number and the QR code (92); b) a bagging button (73) for recording bagging of the male inflorescences to further add information such as stalk serial number, bunch serial number and photos; c) a quality check after bagging button (74) to check and verify details of the male inflorescences after the bagging of the male inflorescences; d) a harvesting button (75) to record details on harvesting of the male inflorescences to record and verify details such as date, the palm ID number, the palm brand, the stalk serial number, the bunch serial number and bunch weight; e) a deliver button (76) to record details on delivery of the male inflorescences to the pollen lab production unit to record and verify details such as delivery number, transport number and date; f) a reception button (77) to record details of the male inflorescences as received at the pollen lab production unit by scanning the NFC tag (91); g) a transfer button (78) to record details on the transfer and receipt of the male inflorescences at the seed production unit; h) an inflorescence drying button (79) to record details on the male inflorescences (90) drying methodology and timing process; i) a pollen drying button (80) to record details on the drying of the male inflorescences (90); j) a vial packing button (81) to record details on the packing of dried pollen grains in vials (94); k) a viability test button (82) to record details of viability tests of the male inflorescences (90);

L) a legitimacy test button (83) to record details of legitimacy tests of the male inflorescences (90); m) a pollen request button (84) to record details of requests of pollen by requesters for use at the plantation; n) a puffer mix button (85) to record details of preparation of puffer mix for the requesters for use at the plantation; and o) a puffer issuance (collect) button (86), a puffer issuance (return) button (87) and a puffer check button (88) to record details of issuance and collection of the puffer mix in puffer type bottes (95) using a QR code (92) for the requester and return of the puffer type bottles (95) to the pollen lab production unit.

7. The smartphone app according to Claim 6, wherein the smartphone app is able to calculate average FFB per oil palm tree, average field recovery, average oil palm seeds per FFB, average purity of oil palm seeds (controlled pollination process), average germination success rate of oil palm seeds, average germination recovery, and overall purity rate.