Characteristics of suckers from sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) grown in different soil types in Tebing Tinggi Island, Riau, Indonesia.

摘要

Characteristics of sago palm suckers collected from mother palms at different growth stages and grown in different soil types were investigated for vegetative growth, nutrient contents in the pith including starch and total sugar, and subsequent growth during the nursery period. Significant differences in the vegetative growth parameters between the suckers collected from palms grown in mineral and deep peat soils, irrespective of the mother palm stages, were observed. The suckers collected from palms grown in mineral soil showed a better vegetative growth performance in terms of leaf emergence and elongation of sucker length than those collected from palms grown in deep peat soil. Nitrogen content in the pith tissues of the suckers from the mineral soil (average; 6.6-7.3 mg g-1) was significantly higher than that of the suckers from the deep peat soil (average; 2.4-2.9 mg g-1). On the other hand, due to the application of wood ash for the palm clumps grown in the deep peat soil, the pith potassium content in the suckers from the deep peat soil (4.6-15.0 mg g-1) was significantly higher than that of the suckers from the mineral soil (2.1-8.2 mg g-1). Nevertheless, no significant differences in the starch content were observed (41.3-70.9%). The soil type significantly affected almost all the growth parameters of the suckers in the subsequent establishment in the nursery, except for the number of newly emerged leaves and root dry matter percentage. However, no significant difference was found in the sucker survival rate between the materials collected from mother palms at both stages and grown in the mineral (78%) and deep peat soils (77%).