The effect of bulbil’s sizes on the growth of iles-iles (Amorphophalus muelleri Blume)

Abstract

Abstract Iles iles (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume) is an industrial comodity. Indonesian Industrial and Beverage Crops Research Institute have been collected and studied Amorphophallus muelleri Blume germplasm. The aim of this study was to identify the influence bulbils sizes to plant growth. Plant material was originated from Bajawa, East Nusa Tenggara. The research was carried out at the green house, at an altitude of 450 m above sea level, with soil type is latosol, and climate type is B, according to Oldeman, from August 2019 to May 2020. The bulbils were categorized into three groups based on weight and diameter, i.e. small size (diameter 10.00-15.99 mm and 0.70-3.99 g); medium size (diameter 16.00-23.99 mm and 4.00-5.99 g); and large size (24.00-33.99 mm and 6.06-12.99 g). Experimental design were Randomized Block Design with three replications. The characters observed were plant height, pseudo stem diameter, number of branch, leaf length, and leaf width. The result showed as the size of the planted bulbils increased, parameters measured also increased and significantly different. In the development of Iles-iles or Porang from Bajawa, East Nusa Tenggara, planting material could be used in the form of bulbils with a diameter were 24.00-33.99 mm and weight were 6.06-12.99 g.