POPULATION STRUCTURE, DISPERSION PATTERN AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF GEWANG PALM (Corypha utan Lam.) IN TIMOR ISLAND, INDONESIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11598/btb.2020.27.1.999Keywords:
Corypha utan, East Nusa Tenggara, food, local, starchAbstract
Food insecurity has been reported to be the top most concern in East Nusa Tenggara (Timor Island) compared to that in other provinces in Indonesia. The use of local species as food sources is one possible arm in the fight against food insecurity. Gewang (Corypha utan Lam.) is a palm species which produces starch similar to the true sago palm (Metroxylon sagu). Although it is important to promote the species as a starch crop, information on its current population and seedling growth performance is still lacking. Hence, a one-hectare plot was surveyed and an experimental plot was established for population and regeneration analyses. In the 1 ha plot there were 31 productive trees, 2 post productive trees, 63 immature trees and 2,211 seedlings. The dispersion of the species followed the clumped pattern for immature trees and seedlings, but shifted to random pattern at maturity or productive stage. The seedling survival was stable when weeded, but dropped to 50% when un-weeded. However, in spite of its stem extraction for starch consumption, the population of C. utan in East Nusa Tenggara was stable. This indicated that C. utan in East Nusa Tenggara is a potential alternative food source to help build food security in Indonesia especially in dry lands like Timor Island and its adjacent regions.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Downloads
Published
2019-08-28
How to Cite
Kusuma, Y. W. C., & Witono, J. R. (2019). POPULATION STRUCTURE, DISPERSION PATTERN AND SEEDLING GROWTH OF GEWANG PALM (Corypha utan Lam.) IN TIMOR ISLAND, INDONESIA. BIOTROPIA, 27(1), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.11598/btb.2020.27.1.999
Issue
Section
Research Paper
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree with the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work 1 year after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommerical-noderivates 4.0 International License that allows others to share, copy and redistribute the work in any medium or format, but only where the use is for non-commercial purposes and an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal is mentioned.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).