An interesting phenomenon in oil palm: anatomical, morphophysiological, and biochemical observations from aerial roots on the trunk

Abstract

Abstract Roots are plant organs that function for nutrient and water absorption and support plant upright. Oil palm has distinctive roots due to the growth of primer roots that grow in two directions, namely vertical and horizontal. The growth of oil palm roots is highly dependent on the source of energy accumulated at the base of the stem. The availability of assimilate will determine the rate of root formation. The results of observations in the field, there is a phenomenon of root growth on oil palm stems. In general, there are four root growth phenomena, namely aerial roots which are the roots of plants affected by Ganoderma disease, roots that grow in the middle of the stem, the base of the stem, and at the end of the stem of the oil palm plant. This phenomenon has not been studied comprehensively. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of identifying the anatomical, morphophysiological, and plant biochemical observations of normal and aerial roots in oil palm trunks. The results showed differences in anatomical, morphology, and biochemical between roots growing underground and aerial roots. There are anatomical differences between the actual and aerial roots, namely the number of meta xylem is 19 pieces with a larger size in the underground roots, while the aerial roots are only 15 with a smaller size. The similarities between the two roots are included in the scalariform group. Aerial roots have the same types of roots as normal, namely primary, secondary, and tertiary roots. Based on the biochemical analysis, Palm5 has 3 times higher than reducing sugar percentage on Palm7.