Eksplorasi Sumber Genetik Abaca di Kepulauan Sangihe-Talaud

Exploration was conducted to be used for genetic variation improvement of abaca germplasm. It was performed at Sangir Besar Island in Sangihe Achipilago and Karakelang Island in the Talaud Archipilago, both of them were located in the teritorial of Sangihe-Talaud District of North Sulawesi Province, in September 1999. Result indicated that Sangihe-Talaud District had many species of abaca introduced from Philippina. Fifteen accessions of abaca were collected. The difference characters of each accession were identified by stem colour, bloom shape and colour, stem height and diameter, and fibre strength. Those accessions were conserved in the RITFC’s Experimental Garden for characterization and evaluation. Abstrak Untuk memperluas keragaman sumber daya genetik tanaman abaca, telah dilakukan eksplorasi di Pulau Sangir Besar di gugusan Kepulauan Sangihe, dan di Pulau Karakelang di gugusan Kepulauan Talaud, Kabupaten Sangihe-Talaud, Propinsi Sulawesi Utara, pada bulan September 1999. Dari eksplorasi tersebut diketahui bahwa di Kabupaten Sangihe-Talaud, Propinsi Sulawesi Utara khususnya di Pulau Sangir Besar dan Pulau Karakelang, banyak terdapat jenis abaca yang diduga berasal dari Filipina. Diperoleh 15 aksesi abaca dari kedua pulau tersebut. Perbedaan yang mencolok dari masing-masing aksesi terletak pada karakter warna batang, warna dan bentuk jantung, tinggi dan diameter batang serta kekuatan seratnya. Aksesi-aksesi tersebut ditanam di kebun plasma nutfah Balittas untuk karakterisasi dan evaluasi.