Evaluasi Pertumbuhan dan Produksi Kelapa Sawit (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Aksesi Liar Asal Kamerun di Lingkungan Kebun Percobaan PPKS Adolina

Abstract

Indonesia is one of the world's largest producers of palm oil, producing more than half of all palm oil globally. Although not indigenous to Indonesia, the sector plays an important role in the economy, creating jobs and boosting exports. Therefore, strategic efforts are needed to achieve high and sustainable productivity for the development of the oil palm industry. One approach that can be applied is through the introduction of oil palm plants from the region of origin, such as from Cameroon. The introduction process not only includes the selection of superior varieties that have characteristics of plant growth and production, but are also able to adapt well to the surrounding environmental conditions. This study aims to evaluate the growth of 36 wild accessions of oil palm plants from Cameroon including physical and environmental aspects and evaluate productivity and its relationship with environmental factors such as soil, climate and weather. This research was conducted at the PPKS Adolina Experimental Farm located in Perbaungan District, Serdang Bedagai Regency, North Sumatra with an altitude of 15 meters above sea level, soil analysis was carried out at the Research and Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, University of North Sumatra and PT Socfin Indonesia which began in January to April 2024. The methods used are statistical methods in the form of non-factorial Randomized Group Design (RAK), ex post facto methods and descriptive methods. Data from observations of morphological characters were compiled in the form of descriptive analysis of plants and grouped based on standard deviation values. To determine the closeness of the relationship between variables, Pearson Correlation (r) analysis was conducted to obtain the relationship between climate data with growth and production and between soil data with growth and production. Each significant data was further tested with multiple linear regression test using the enter method to see the effect of variable X (climate and soil characteristics) on Y (growth and production). Observations of morphological characters include plant height, stem circumference, number of midribs, midrib length, number of leaflets, leaflet length and leaflet width. Production characters included bunch weight, number of bunches and average bunch weight. Observations of soil characteristics include soil texture, soil pH, C-organic, N-total, P-available, Base Cations, and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). The results showed that the evaluation of the growth of 36 wild accessions of oil palm from Cameroon and the comparison with the control plant, namely the DxP 540 variety, showed that some accessions showed good adaptation to the environmental conditions of the Adolina experimental garden, namely accessions CMR027D, CMR044D, and CMR005D because they had the character of slower plant height growth and less long fronds and had high production. Evaluation of productivity, it is known that some accessions are superior, namely accessions CMR097D, CMR044D, CMR025D, CMR055D, CMR018D, CMR005D, CMR020D, CMR079D because they have the number of bunches and bunch weight above the average which indicates high productivity potential. The correlation between growth and production factors of 36 wild oil palm accessions from Cameroon to environmental factors such as soil, climate and weather showed a significant effect. Accessions CMR058D, CMR025D and CMR055D showed many positive correlations with weather conditions, indicating that these three accessions have good adaptability to environmental changes.