The sustaining agro-biodiversity through topworking approach: a case of local superior durian conservation on Mount Arjuna

Abstract

On the slopes of Mount Arjuna there are durian growing areas that are similar to durian forests, and produce a very high diversity of durians. Through the fruit festival, four local durian varieties of good quality have been selected, namely Dupen, Gundul, Tahan and Bawuk. To preserve these varieties, farmers take a top working approach, which replaces unqualified plants with superior varieties. The implementation of topworking in two ways, namely grafting shoot buds and grafting inserts on the trunk of mature plants. The implementation of topworking is carried out by farmers who own the parent tree and non-owners of the parent tree. The results showed that the technique of cutting stems and then grafting shoots was significantly higher than the topworking method of grafting inserts on the trunk of the plant. The success rate of topworking is impacted by the genetic material ownership system. Owners of parent trees consistently perform at a higher level than non-owners, as evidenced by their higher percentage of top working success. The Gundul durian variety, which exhibits a significantly higher percentage of growth than other varieties because the branching arrangement in the tree architecture of the Gundul variety is lower than that of other varieties, demonstrates how the ease of taking enteris also influences the success rate of topworking. This strategy encourages the growth and reproduction of multiple local durian varieties on a single mature plant on the slopes of Mount Arjuna while also enhancing fruit quality by substituting inferior durian varieties with the farmer’s preferred superior durian varieties.