Abstract
Canna indica L (African arrowroot), is a beneficial, multi-use tropical perennial with a worldwide distribution, but relatively unexplored. This plant has the potential to be developed as a food crop in an intercropping system, utilizing idle land under commercial plantations such as rubber or teak. This study aimed to determine the best light-growing conditions for C. indica. A completely randomized design was used with growth light as the treatment consisting of 25%, 50%, and 100% of natural light, respectively. Leaf traits, growth characteristics, and phenotypic plasticity were used to measure C. indica’s response to different treatments. The results of this study showed that C. indica grown in low light has the best growth with increased height, leaf area, root and shoot dry weights, but decreased leaf thickness, which caused the increase in specific leaf area, leaf area ratio, and leaf weight ratio, but decreased root to shoot ratio. Based on leaf traits and biomass allocation, the phenotypic plasticity index was 0.23, a typical number for shade tolerant species. These findings were the first time to be reported for C. indica. For agroforestry practices, it can be recommended that C. indica be used as an intercropping plant under tree canopies.
Highlights
Canna indica (African arrowroot, Indian shot, Ganyong) is a multi-use tropical perennial species
Its young leaves are eaten as a vegetable, the young seeds are used in the mixture of tortilla ingredients, and the stems and leaves are used for fodder (CABI, 2020)
The SLA (Specific Leaf Area, the ratio of leaf area to leaf dry mass expressed in cm2 g1), LWR (Leaf Weight Ratio, the ratio of leaf weight to plant weight expressed in g leaf g plant-1), Leaf Area Ratio (LAR) (
Summary
Canna indica (African arrowroot, Indian shot, Ganyong) is a multi-use tropical perennial species. All parts of this plant have commercial values, but they are still relatively unexplored. According to a report on the productivity of four Canna species including C. indica in Thailand, the four species tested were able to produce starch between 4.1-4.9 tonnes per ha (Piyachomkwan et al, 2002), indicating Canna's capacity as a flour producer. The development of C. indica to produce flour can help Indonesia to reduce its dependence on wheat imports, which have risen to over 10 million tonnes per year, equivalent to USD 2.8 million in 2019 (BPS, 2020)
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