A preliminary study of the effect of different seedling sources on growth of seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii cultivated in Konawe Selatan and Bombana Regency, Southeast (SE) Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine the effect of different seedling sources on growth of K. alvarezii. There were three seedling sources used in this study: local strain, tissue-cultured seedlings, and seedlings resulting from mass selection combined with tissue–cultured method called “prof”. This research was conducted for 6 months in two regencies, Konawe Selatan and Bombana, SE Sulawesi, Indonesia, using the longline seaweed culture method. The results showed that the daily growth rate (DGR) during this study tended to fluctuate within each treatment, but tissue-cultured and “prof” seedlings had higher mean DGRs than local strain seedlings. In Konawe Selatan, the mean of DGR was highest in tissue-cultured seedlings (5.72 ±0.13%/day), followed by prof seedlings (5.21 ±0.26%/day) and local strain seedlings (4.58±0.23%/day). In addition, the DGRs peaked in November when the tissue-cultured seedlings had the highest DGR (6.20 ±0.35%/day) followed by prof seedlings (5.92 ±1.03%/day) and local strain seedlings (5.39±0.67%/day). In Bombana, the tissue-cultured seedlings had higher DGRs than prof and local strain seedlings. The mean DGR of tissue-cultured seedlings was 4.61 ±0.19%/day followed by prof seedlings (4.18 ±0.13%/day) and local strain seedlings (3.61±0.19%/day). However, in contrast to the results obtained from Selatan Konawe, the DGRs peaked in September, when tissue-cultured seedlings had the highest DGR (4.61 ±0.14%/day) followed by prof seedlings (4.49 ±0.15%/day) and local strain seedlings (4.11±0.05%/day). This study shows that tissue-cultured and prof seedlings have the potential to increase seaweed farming production.