Genotype characterization of sugar palm (Arenga pinnata (Wurmb.) Merr.) on seed and germination stage

Abstract

Characterization of local sugar palm accessions is not currently available. This characterization information will be useful in the development of high yielding varieties of sugar palm in Indonesia. The aims of this research were to study the morphology characters of sugar palm ranging from fruits, seeds until germination. The experiment used descriptive method to observe the morphological characteristics of seed germination. Each accession and variety used 20 of sugar palm seeds germinated in the polybag and repeated 5 times. Observations were carried out up to 90 days after sowing (DAS). The results showed that the accession of Pematang Siantar, Bengkulu Lebong, Bengkulu Curup, Banten, Cianjur, and variety of Kutai Timur has range of fruit weight 37.2-66.2 g, range of seed weight 3.7-6.3 g, range of seed length 23.3-31.8 mm, range of seed diameter 17.6-20.7 mm, range of seed fresh weight 16.0-29.3 g, range of seed dry weight 13.4-21.8 g, range of potential growth 66-100%, range of germination percentage 44-98%, range of seed water content 22-36%, range of hypocotyl length 9.6-14.0 cm (90 DAS), range of radicle length 17.6-27.2 cm (90 DAS), and range of plumule length 8.3-19.2 cm (90 DAS).