The present invention relates to haploid
oil palm plants and homozygous doubled haploid
oil palm plants. The invention also relates to methods for producing and selecting haploid and doubled haploid plants. More particularly, but not exclusively, the method may be used for selecting haploid and doubled haploid
oil palm plants. Haploid and doubled haploid plants are selected by a large-scale screening based on a combination of the
phenotype with the use of molecular methods combined with
flow cytometry techniques to identify haploid and doubled haploid plants. More particularly, a method for selecting haploid and doubled haploid plants is described comprising: (a) germinating seeds; (b) selecting seedlings with atypical
phenotype; (c) assessing heterozygosity using markers; (d) isolating cells from the seedlings and determining the
DNA content of the cells; and (e) isolating and purifying the
DNA and using defined molecular markers to characterise the
genotype of the
plant. The haploidoil palm plants may be used for producing homozygous doubled haploid oil palms: doubled haploids may be intercrossed to produce uniform F1 hybrids of superior properties.