1. SANDRA A AZIZ.cdr Abstract Ta a is acc ( (Linn.) O. Kuntze)Tacca leontopetaloides tropical plant that widely used for starch in someis its countries as well as medicinal plant. Tacca has advantages as it can grow on sand in tropical seashore areas and rain forests. Farmers in Madura Island Indonesia cultivated tacca by using mother tubers as propagules and harvest the daughter tubers, but no studies have been conducted on the growth of mini-tubers and their cultivation. The purpose of this study was to �nd the best combination of planting media miniand the size of tuber for growing tacca. The experiment was set in a completely randomized block design with factortwo s and three replications e :. Th planting media sandare rice-hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v), soil : sand : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v), soil : rice-hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v), and soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v) mini-tuber weight 1-5 and 5.1-20 g. The; are result showed Polynesian arrowroot grow best on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) and rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1 v/v) media. Both propagules sizes can be used, but plants from large mini tuber had better growth and produced larger mother and daughter tubers. Key words: mini tuber tuber,, parent Polynesian arrowroot, ,organic media planting secondary tuber Introduction Polynesian arrowroot or Tacca leontopetaloides (Linn.) O. Kuntze Heyneisfrom Taccaceae family ( , 1987; Meena and Yadav, 2010), is an annual tuber ( S p e n n e m a n , 1 9 9 4 ; W i l k i n e t a l . , 2 0 0 5 ) , hermaphrodite dioecious (Wilkin et al., 2005) and an underutilized source of starch in Indonesia.This plant is herbaceous (Abdullah et al., 2014; Booth et al., 2004) plant other than grass or sedges, leaves compound or lobed, stem with longitudinal ridges and hollow (Booth et al., 2004). Abdullah et al. (2014) stated that Polynesian arrowroot possess the most stunning in�orescence with whisker-like �liform bracteoles and the colour of the two conspicuous inner involucral bracts range from white, green, purple, brown to near black colour. The true �owers of are dark purple, brown, or nearT. leontopetaloides black in colour and they are actinomorphic and hermaphroditic with six stamens. asT. integrifolia potted plants and exterior landscaping need 30% shade level for the longest �ower stalk, whereas shade level of 70% is most suitable to produce a good quality potted plant with intense �ower colour and suitable �ower stalk length in Malaysia. Full sunlight will delay and slow down the growth of plants and cause death of plants. In India tubers are usuallyT. leontopetaloides cooked, boiled with leaves of guava or tamarind to avoid the irritating property of the tubers, or roasted as vegetables (Misra and Misra, 2014). In Hawaii the tubers are used as famine food (Bevacqua, 1994), and it is a staple food in Mozambique (Bruschi et al. 2014). Ndouyang et al. (2014) stated that the Tacca genus has toxic alkaloid taccalonolid E and A. Furthermore Ukpabi et al. (2009) stated that the bitterness in comes from taccalinT. leontopetaloides (3,5,7,4'-tetrahydroxy-�avylium-3-xyloside), a phenolic compound, that should be processed before eaten by livestock (Ubwa et al , 2011).. Some medicinal uses of this plant has been documented, such as to reduce chest pain and to cure rashes on newborn baby (Nandwani et al., 2008), to relieve pain of the body and stomach, and it is considered as antidote of food poisoning, and possesses analgesic, antipyretic and anti- in�ammatory activities (Jiang et al., 2014). Sandra Ari�n Aziz* , Rendy Susanto A A Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Bogor Agricultural University Jl. Meranti, Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, Indonesia *Corresponding author; email: sandraaziz@yahoo.com Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com 1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Are (Linn.) O. Kuntze Mini Tuber GrowthTacca leontopetaloides Affected by Media Composition and Tuber Size? Phytochemical screening of T. leontopetaloides showed that their leaves contain alkaloids, saponins and tannins whereas the tuber only contains alkaloids (Borokini and Ayodele, 2012).The tuber also contains �avonoid (Ukpabi et al., 2009), and this �nding is differed from Habila et al. (2011) that reported no �avonoids in . HabilaT. leontopetaloides e t a l . ( 2 0 11 ) , h o w e v e r, r e p o r t e d t h a t T. leontopetaloides has antioxidant activities of 86% at 125 μg.mL , reducing potential and total phenolic -1 content express in terms of Gallic acid equivalent (GAE) 0.217nm, 6.90 mg, compared with Gallic acid standard (1.268nm). Jiang et al. (2014) stated that 120 constituents have been isolated from T. leontopetaloides, including steroidals, phenolics, �avonoids, sesquiterpenoids, triterpenoids and starch. Steroidals and diarylheptanoids showed potent bioactivities, such as cytotoxic, microtubule- s t a b i l i z i n g , N F - k B a c t i v a t i o n a n d P PA R transcriptional and insecticidal activities. The starch from has high amylase contentT. leontopetaloides and showed potential uses in food and drug system. Huang et al. (2002) stated that leaf extract from T. leontopetaloides can be used against slugs and snails. Evaluation of the physicochemical properties of fresh and stored (4 months) Tacca tubers showed that the bitter brown skinned tuber had 28.25- 29.00% dry matter, 25.00-27.25% starch 40-43 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 3.15-3.58% crude �avonoid extract,and a density of 1.67 g.mL density (Ukpabi -1 et al., 2009). The proximate composition of the tuber �esh was 1.10-1.50% protein, 2.70-2.73% ash, 0.28- 0.68% �ber, 0.08-0.10% fat and 95.02-95.42% total carbohydrate on dry matter basis (Ukpabi et al., 2009), and Marcel et al. (2012) reported that the tubers have 35% starch content. People still use starch from Tacca tubers as staple food in Madura Island, East Java, Indonesia. Tacca has many bene�ts, one of them is that it grows on sand in tropical seashore areas, rain forest and subtropical rain forest ( , Meena andHeyne 1987; Yadav, 2010). The vast idle tropical seashore areas in Indonesia can be made more productive by producing starch from .T. leontopetaloides Spennemann (1994) stated that T. leontopetaloides was found to grow on very �ne to medium soil with low to medium humus content. T. leontopetaloides height of leaves and �owercan reach 0.2-1.2 m and 0.8-1.8 m, respectively, when grown understory of coconut tree, orArtocarpus altilis Pandanus tectorius. Pate et al. (2014) study in Nigeria reported that intra-row spacing of 20 and 25 cm, application of NPK and poultry manure produced higher tuber production of Polynesian arrowroot than using cow manures. Media used in this research should resemble the media where Polynesian arrowroot was found in nature, media combination that have high porosity i.e. sand and rice hull charcoal for porosity, soil and cow manure as clay source, binding agent, as well as nutrient source. Mualim (2009) reported that cow manure application increased soil pH, P O , K O, decreased C-organic,2 5 2 and change the soil texture from clay to dusty clay in Talinum triangulare cultivation. Farmers in Madura Island cultivated tacca by using mother tubers as propagules and harvest the daughter tubers, but there has no report on using mini tuber produced from seedlings and their cultivation.This cultivation tradition decreases the harvest because the use of big tuber as propagule. Mini tubers can befound on land cultivated with T. leontopetaloides, but they are usually lay idle, or disturb the planting distance needed for producing big tuber, and were treated as weeds. Spennemann (1994) stated that in Marshall Islands traditional and modern cultivation of Polynesian arrowroot only harvest the big tubers, while the small tubers are left behind in the holes. A new tuber formed close to the one of the previous year. Although the tubers are generally described as small, there are reports of larger tubers, weighing over 500 g. The number of tubers of each mature plant can range from one to well over thirty, with numbers between ten and twenty being the most common. The plants tend to show preponderance for small tubers, with a few big ones added. In onion cultivation in Nigeria, large onion bulb ( ) can be used for growth, highAllium cepa yield and better quality of onion seeds (Ashagrie et al., 2014). Hussain et al. (2001) reported that medium size bulbs had greater leaf production than small and large bulbs. This research aims to �nd media composition and tuber sizes that can be used to cultivate Polynesian arrowroot. Materials and Methods Treatments The experiment was conducted in Bogor, Indonesia from October 2013 to May 2014 and laid out in c o m p l e t e l y r a n d o m i z e d b l o c k d e s i g n w i t h two sfactor , compositionof planting media and mini t u b e r w e i g h t , w i t h t h r e e r e p l i c a t i o n s e. T h composition of :planting media sand ricetested are hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v), soil : sand : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v), soil : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1 1:1 v/v), and soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v): . 2 Sandra Ari�n Aziz, Rendy Susanto Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com The tuber propagules are grouped into 1-5 (small tubers) (large tubers)and 5.1-20 g . The propagules came from Sumenep, Madura Island. The shade percentage was 35%. Duncan Multiple Range Test was used on variables that were signi�cantly different (P<0.05). Results and Discussion Composition of Planting Media and Polynesian arrowroot growth Plants grown on soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v) media had the lowest values on all growth variables observed (Figure 1 and 2). Plants on sand : rice-hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) media were 36.90- 47.98% taller those on soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v), and those grown in soil : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) were than31.13-37.34% taller those grown in soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v) (data not shown). Leaf emerged on 6 WAT (weeks after planting) in soil : rice-hull charcoal : cow manure media (1:1:1 v/v). Leaf number wasaffected by media combination at 16-18 WAP. Leaf number of the plants grown on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) was 58.8 % greater than that in soil : sand : cow-62.5 manure (1:1:1 v/v). The plants did not form new leaves between 19-22 WAP, but leaf number on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure media (1:1:1 v/v) was than that in soil : cow31.5-44.5% greater manure (1:1 v/v). In addition, individual leaf area of the plants grown in sand: rice hull charcoal : cow manure media (1:1:1 v/v) was larger and the plants grew faster. Shoot diameter was affected by media composition on 15- 22 WAT. Shoot diameter of the plants grown in sand: rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) was 51.38-71.17% greater than that inthose in soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v), likely due to a larger leaf area. Relative growth rate was not affected by media composition. Tacca grown on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) had higher22.98% RGR than those grown on soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v), likely due to greater leaves, petiole, tuber, and root dry weight. Net assimilation rate was affected by how much the leaves shaded each other. Tacca grown on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) had 104.7 higher NAR than those grown on soil : cow% manure (1:1 v/v), likely due to greater leaf area. 3 Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com Are (Linn.) O. Kuntze Mini Tuber..........Tacca leontopetaloides 4 Figure 1. Growth variables of at different media combination (A-D): (a) plant height (cm) atT. leontopetaloides 4 and 22 WAP; (b) number of leaves at 6, 18, 22 WAP; (c) leaf area (cm ) at 22 WAP; (d) relative 2 growth rate (g per day) at 18-24 WAP; and (e) net assimilation rate (g.cm per day) at 18-24 WAP -2 where A = sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure; B = soil : sand : cow manure; C = soil : rice hull charcoal : cow manure; D = soil : cow manure. Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com Sandra Ari�n Aziz, Rendy Susanto Weight difference between total tuber produced to initial mini tuber was affected signi�cantly by media combination on 1-24 WAP (data not shown).The weight of daughter tubers on sand : rice-hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) was 216.54% than that on soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v), whereas on sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) was 401.80% greater than that on soil : cow manure (1:1 v/v) (Figure 2). Figure 2. tuber production at different media combination (A-D) at 24 WAP: (a) motherT. leontopetaloides tuber weight (g); (b) mother tuber diameter (cm); (c) mother tuber thickness (cm); (d) daughter tuber weight (g); (e) daughter tuber diameter (cm); (f) daughter tuber thickness (cm); (g) weight differences between parent and secondary tubers (g); (h) weight differences between total tuber produced and parent tubers (g), where A = sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure; B = soil : sand : cow manure; C = soil : rice hull charcoal : cow manure; D = soil : cow manure. 5 Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com Are (Linn.) O. Kuntze Mini Tuber..........Tacca leontopetaloides Tuber Sizes and Polynesian arrowroot growth Plant height was affected by tuber size at 13-22 WAT (data not shown). The plants from larger tubers (5.1- 20 g) were 65.09-81.73 % taller than those from the smaller tubers (1-5 g). Leaf number was affected by tuber size at 19-20 WAP. Plants from small tubers (1- 5 g) had 20.4-5.0% more leaves than those from large tubers (5.1-20 g). However, the leaf area was 47.13% smaller. Shoot diameter of the plants from 5.1-20 g tubers was signi�cantly larger than the plants from 1 5 g- tubers. No signi�cant effect of tuber size on RGR and NAR (Figure 3). Figure 3. Growth variables of small (1-5 g) and large (>5-20 g) tubers: (a) plant height at 4T. leontopetaloides and 22 WAP; (b) number of leaves at 6 and 22 WAP; (c) leaf area (cm ) at 13 and 24 WAP; (d) 2 relative growth rate (g per day) at 18-24 WAP; (e) net assimilation rate (g.cm per day) at 18-24 -2 WAP. 6 Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com Sandra Ari�n Aziz, Rendy Susanto The tuber size signi�cantly affected the sizes of the daughter tuber harvested, mother tuber diameter, mother and daughter tuber thickness (Figure 4, data not shown). Large tubers (5.1-20 g) had signi�cantly greater mother and daughter tuber weight, mother and daughter tuber thickness than small tubers (1-5 g), i.e. 166.52, , and ,54.61 29.86, 59.93% respectively. Large propagules (5.1-20 g) produced 166.52 and 54.61 % larger mother and daughter tubers, respectively, than small propagules (1-5 g), and the mother and daughter tubers produced were 29.86 and 59.93% thicker than the initial mini-tuber propagules. Figure 4. small (1-5 g) and large (>5-20 g) tuber production at 24 WAP: (a) mother tuberT. leontopetaloides weight (g); (b) mother tuber diameter (cm); (c) mother tuber thickness (cm); (d) daughter tuber weight (g); (e) daughter tuber diameter (cm); (f) daughter tuber thickness (cm); (g) parent and secondary tubers weight differences (g); (h) weight differences between total tuber produced and parent tuber weight differences (g). 7 Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com Are (Linn.) O. Kuntze Mini Tuber..........Tacca leontopetaloides Media composition in�uenced Tacca growth and tuber production. In Madura Island, Polynesian arrowroot mostly found grow on sand in the seacoast that has good drainage. This condition is similar to rice hull charcoal media in this experiment. Rice hull charcoal (Saleh, 2010) and cow manure (Mualim, 2009) has higher C-organic, N, and K 0 than sand,2 which resulted in better plant growth and greater tuber weight. T. leontopetaloides grown on soil : cow manure media (1:1 v/v) had the lowest value on all growth growthvariables due to slow leaf emergence, more leaves of smaller sizes, low RGR and NAR, that was the opposite of on sand : rice hullT. leontopetaloides charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) media. Media composition with high porosity supported better T. leontopetaloides growth. Large tubers associated with high carbohydrate content (source) promoted better growth (sink). Soemonoet et al.(1986) found on that plants fromAmorphopallus campanulatus large tuber propagules grow faster, had an increased LAI and signi�cantly produced larger tuber weight per plant and per hectare. F a r m e r s i n M a d u r a I s l a n d c u l t i v a t e d T. leontopetaloides by using mother tubers as propagules and harvest the big daughter tubers. This cultivation tradition decreases the harvest because the large tubers are used as propagule.T. leontopetaloides are harvested mostly from the wild, and limited information available on culture and types of propagules used for cultivation.The results of this study showed that mother tuber size became larger when using mini tuber, and produced daughter tubers. Therefore mini tubers can be used as propagules to produce Tacca tubers for consumption in the future. Conclusion Polynesian arrowroot grow best on media combination of sand : rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1:1 v/v) and rice hull charcoal : cow manure (1:1 v/v). 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A plastid gene phylogeny of the yam genus, Dioscorea: roots, fruits and Madagascar. Systematic Botany 30, 736-749. Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. No. , 2012 1 February 5 www.j-tropical-crops.com