117 AGRIVITAGRIVITA Journal of Agricultural Science. 2019. 41(1): 117-128 AGRIVITA Journal of Agricultural Science www.agrivita.ub.ac.id Physiological Response and Photosynthate Distribution of West Indian Arrowroot at Different Altitudes Laksmi Puspitasari1), Triadiati 2*) and Sulistijorini2) 1 Graduate Program in Plant Biology, Graduate School, Bogor Agricultural University Indonesia 2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Bogor Agricultural University Indonesia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: West Indian arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea L.) is a tuber crop that is Maranta arundinacea consumed as an alternative food. İt can grow in an area with altitudinal Photosynthate Distribution range from 0 to 1,000 m asl. This study aimed to analyse physiological Photosynthesis Rate response and photosynthate distribution which is related to growth Tuber Yield performance and tuber yield of West Indian arrowroot at two different altitudes. Four accessions of West Indian arrowroot i.e. Bantul, Krajan, Article History: Kemalang, and Begawat were planted at 250 and 1,100 m asl. This Received: 30 January, 2017 study was conducted using split plot design with altitude as the main plot Accepted: 21 December, 2018 and the accession of West Indian arrowroot as a subplot. The results showed that altitudes significantly affected physiological response, plant ) * Corresponding author: height, leaf area per plant, and tuber yield of West Indian arrowroot. E-mail: [email protected] The rate of photosynthesis in the highland tended to be higher than that in the lowland, but plant height and tuber yield were lower in highland. These results suggested that the West Indian arrowroot had different pattern on photosynthate distribution between shoot and tuber at different altitudes because of environmental factors. Bantul accession had the lowest tuber yield compared to the others, and showed the low ability of accession Bantul in distributing photosynthate towards tuber. INTRODUCTION % insoluble dietary fiber, and 5.0 % soluble dietary fiber (Kumalasari et al., 2012). The starch also has West Indian arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea a similar characteristic with cassava, potato, and L., Marantaceae) is a herbaceous, perennial tropical banana starch (Rohandi, Budiadi, Hardiwinoto, plant from tropical America (Delin & Kennedy, Harmayani, and Sudrajat, 2017). Thus, arrowroot 2000; Handler, 1971; Tan & Zaharah, 2015). It is flour had higher protein content than cassava flour characterized by an edible starchy flesh tuber (Delin & (Aprianita, Vasiljevic, Bannikova, & Kasapis, 2014). Kennedy, 2000). Morphologically, the plant is straight The West Indian arrowroot is well known as medicinal herb with 30-130 cm in high; rhizomes sympodial and plant used against diarrhoea, dysentry, and urinary cylindric; stem erect, often apically branched, slender; related diseases (Cooke, Carr, Abrams, & Mayberry, leaf blade ovate-oblong; inflorescences several per 2000; Shintu, Radhakrishnan, & Mohanan, 2015). leafy shoot, each subtending 2 or 3 flower pairs; corolla Mashed rhizomes are applied topically for wounds white, and sepals green (Wu & Kennedy, 2000). The from poisoned arrows, black spider, and scorpion West Indian arrowroot tubers contain more than 20 bites (Lim, 2016). Arrowroot tubers are sources of % starch (Rahman et al., 2015) which is higher than fibrous food and have low glycemic index thus it is a another member of family Marantaceae, Calathea healthy food (Lestari, Huriyati, & Marsono, 2017).The allouia, which has 6.6 % starch (Bridgemohan, 2011). flour from tubers of the crop has been widely used in The starch from West Indian arrowroot flour had a culinary products such as crackers, cookies, cakes, nutrition composition of 25.9 % amylose, 0.14 % puddings, and porridge. It is also a potential source protein, 0.84 % fat, 11.9 % water, 0.58 % ash, 8.7 of prebiotics (Harmayani, Kumalasari, & Marsono, ISSN: 0126-0537 Accredited First Grade by Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of The Republic of Indonesia, Decree No: 30/E/KPT/2018 Cite this as: Puspitasari, L., Triadiati, & Sulistijorini. (2019). Physiological response and photosynthate distribution of West Indian arrowroot at different altitudes. AGRIVITA Journal of Agricultural Science, 41(1), 117-128. https:// doi.org/10.17503/agrivita.v41i1.1261 118 Laksmi Puspitasari et al: Physiological Response of Arrowroot at Different Altitudes ...................................................... 2011). The high starch and amylose contents in tuber Lindl.) (Bridgemohan, 2011). Growth performance, are extremely important for the formation of strong tuber yield, and starch content of arrowroot have polymeric matrices to be used in membrane production multi component characters greatly influenced by (Gordillo, Valencia, Zapata, & Henao, 2014). genetic system and some agro-climate conditions Nowadays, West Indian arrowroot can be (Rohandi, Budiadi, Hardiwinoto, Harmayani, & Su- found in many tropical regions of the world, including drajat, 2017). South-East Asia, South Africa, Australia, India, However, knowledge on how growth and de- Sri Lanka, and Florida (United States) and it can velopment of the crop are affected by environmental grow up to 1,000 m above sea level (asl) (Djaafar, factors is still limited. Therefore, studies comparing Sarjiman, & Pustika, 2010; Shintu, Radhakrishnan, physiology, growth and tuber yield of West Indian & Mohanan, 2015; Villamayor & Jukema, 1996). arrowroot in different environmental conditions i.e. In Indonesia, it can be found in Java, Sulawesi, altitude are needed, due to the variations in sun- and Maluku, thus it has different local names for light, temperature and wind conditions. This study every region such as arut/ jelarut/ irut/ larut/ garut analysed the effect of environmental factors at dif- (East Java); larut/ pata sagu (West Java); labia ferent altitudes on physiological response of West walanta (Gorontalo); and huda sula (Ternate). The Indian arrowroot. Growth rate and tuber yield were productivity of West Indian arrowroot in Indonesia measured to examine the distribution of photosyn- ranges from 9 – 12 t/ha with a starch content of 1.92 thate in West Indian arrowroot at different altitudes. – 2.56 t/ha (Djaafar, Sarjiman, & Pustika, 2010). Area in lowland and highland might be a way to im- Its productivity needs to be improved considering prove crop productivity of West Indian arrowroot. the high economic and health values of the crop. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cultivation of arrowroot has not been intensive, mostly left to grow wildly without maintenance in Study Site and Plant Materials the yard which has low productivity. In addition, This research was conducted from September improving West Indian arrowroot productivity may 2014 to December 2015 in West Java, Indonesia, at contribute to achieving food security. Exploration sites with altitudes of 250 m asl and 1,100 m asl. of new accessions are needed for increasing Climatic conditions at the planting areas at 250 m crop productivity. Rohandi, Budiadi, Hardiwinoto, asl and 1,100 m asl during the study were different Harmayani, & Sudrajat (2017) reported that in Garut and are presented in Table 1. District, there are three populations of arrowroot The plant materials used were four accessions which have high tuber yield. Cilawu, Cikajang, and of West Indian arrowroot: Bantul, Krajan, Kemalang, Cibatu populations have good potential to produce and Begawat. The accession Bantul was from the high quality and quantity for arrowroot cultivation. Yogyakarta (60 m asl). Accession Krajan was from Crop productivity is determined by the pattern Tegal, Central Java (270 m asl), Kemalang was of dry matter allocation among plant organs (Teka- from Klaten, Central Java (680 m asl) and Begawat lign & Hammes, 2005). Furthermore, environmen- was from Tegal, Central Java (854 m asl). tal factors may influence the pattern of dry matter Experimental Design distribution through changes in photosynthesis rate This study used a split plot arrangement in and strength of various sinks (Bridgemohan, 2011; a randomized block design with three replications. Lemoine et al., 2013). Zheng et al. (2016) reported Altitude was the main plot and accessions were the that plant growth and accumulation of dry matter is subplots. The altitudes were 250 m asl (lowland) and different under different ecological conditions. Eco- 1,100 m asl (highland). The accessions of arrowroot logical conditions such as different altitudes cause plant consist of four levels i.e. accessions of Bantul, differences of environmental conditions like inten- Krajan, Kemalang, and Begawat. sity of sunlight, temperature, and wind speed (Ku- Planting mar, Kumar, Vats, & Ahuja, 2006; Oktafani, Supri- Prior to planting, the tubers were cut into yono, Budiastuti, & Purnomo, 2018; Shi, Haworth, smaller pieces of approximately 10-20 g in weight, Feng, Cheng, & Centritto, 2015). The environmental with each piece having 6 buds. Pieces of tuber were factor, light intensity, influenced the dry matter ac- soaked in a fungicide solution (Mankozeb 80 % 1 g/L cumulation of another member of family Maranta- water, DithaneTM M-45 80WP) for 5 minutes, then ceae, Guinea arrowroot (Calathea allouia (Aubl.) Copyright © 2019 Universitas Brawijaya 119 Laksmi Puspitasari et al: Physiological Response of Arrowroot at Different Altitudes ...................................................... embedded in a nursery of size 5 m x 2 m which has Measurement of