The Growth Character of Sago Palm Based on Differences in Age of Trunk Formation Dwi Ratna Sari (a*), Rinaldi Sjahril (b), Katsuya Osozawa (c)
a) Department of Agroecotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Universitas Sulawesi Barat, Majene, Indonesia
*dwi.ratnasari[at]unsulbar.ac.id
b) Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, Indonesia
c) Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Japan
Abstract
This study aims to (1) characterize sago palm that has formed trunks at 3 years, 3.5 years and 4 years after transplanting- (2) knowing the growth character which has a direct influence on the diameter character of sago trunk. The research was conducted at Sago Plantation Site located in Pengkajoang Village, Malangke Barat Subdistrict, North Luwu Regency using collection of the semi-cultured sago palm in that site. The characters observed were trunk diameter, petiole length, rachis length, leaf length, tree height, number of suckers, number of leaves, length of longest leaflets, width of widest leaflets, number of right leaflet and number of left leaflet. Comparing average of three variables between sago forming trunks at 3 years, 3.5 years and 4 years after transplanting, a paired T-Test was used. Correlation analysis was also conducted to study the relationship between observed variables. In final section, a path analysis was carried out to study the magnitude of direct and indirect effects on each growth character for trunk formation. The results showed that the sago palm that formed trunk at 3 years old had the highest number of leaves (20 strands), 3.5 years (17 strands), and 4 years (16 strands). Conversely, the sago palm that forms trunk at 4 years old has the widest leaflet (7.44 cm)- 3.5 years (6.04 cm) and 3 years (6.52 cm). Correlation analysis and path analysis showed that there were three growth characters of sago palm which has significant influence in the formation of trunk diameter, namely the number of leaves, rachis length, and height of trees with a cross coefficient value of 0.670- 0.549 and 0.520.
