Background: Sago (Metroxylon sp) is one of food commodities that contains many carbohydrates, so it serves as a staple food for some regions in Indonesia such as Maluku, Papua and Sulawesi. Sago can also be used as raw material for food industry such as bagea, sago pearl, pastry, wet cake, noodle, biscuit, cracker and vermicelli. Various uses of sago cause attention in terms of development and conservation. Saparua Island is one of the areas in the Maluku archipelago with sago potential that is wide enough. There are 5 types of sago in the area such as sago tuni, sagu molat, sago eataru, sagu ihur, and sago thorn rattan.Methods: This research took place in February-March 2014 by conducting exploration on location and samples selected by proposive sampling. For each quantitative parameter such as height, length, width, using a measuring instrument of ruler, roll meter while qualitative parameters such as shape, color can be observed visually.Results: Exploration was conducted on February-March 2014 with morphological character parameters on vegetative and generative organs of 70 characters. The results of the study showed a varied morphological appearance in each variety. Visually, variations of morphological characters in the vegetative organ seen in the trunk character are height, surface, circumference, color. Leaf character has variation in leaf sponge, leaf bone flexibility, midst of base of midrib, midrib, midrib, midrib, midlet, child length, upper surface. Morphological characters in generative organs appear to vary in flower, ie, the length and width of the stem, the diameter of the flower. Variations in fruits such as shape, amount, and color while on the seeds are the color and weight.Conclusion: There are variations of morphological characters in the five varieties of sago on Saparua Island in shape, size, and color, appearance of each organ either on stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.

This research aim was to reveal the genetic variability of local corn cultivars from Kisar Island using microsatellite molecular marker. The use of microsatellite markers is based on one reasons that the genetic information is polymorphic, and will be better to identify genetic diversity of plants including corn. Corn cultivars used were obtained from farmer in Kisar Island, and three reference varieties as outgroup were obtained from Institute of Cereals in Maros South Sulawesi. Polymerase chain reaction was conducted following the protocols from Fast Start kit (Qiagen-USA). The data obtained then analyzed with MVSP 3.1A Software for dendogram construction. The results showed that the appearance of DNA bands was vary (monomorphic and polymorphic) for local cultivars as well as reference varieties, with one or two bands on each primer. Based on the dendogram, there are three main clusters with similarity index ranged from 20% -100%. It can be concluded that there is very low similarity and distant kinship of local cultivars. The novelty of this research is knowing kinship relationship between local corn in Kisar Island which is not known yet. This results is expected to provide benefits regarding the breeding program, and for instance, it can be an important information regarding the development of local corn as a source in assembly the superior corn cultivars.

Abstract. Karuwal Rl, Suharsono, Tjahjoleksono A, Hanif N. 2017. Physiological responses of some local cowpea from Southwest Maluku (Indonesia) varieties to drought stress. Biodiversitas 18: 1294Biodiversitas 18: -1299. The aim of this study was to analyze the physiological responses of some local cowpea from Southwest Maluku (Indonesia) varieties to drought stress. The physiological responses were analyzed by measuring plant height, number of leaves, relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll content using Anova and were continued with Duncan test at 5% significance level. Results of this research showed that the varieties and drought stress in the form of watering periods to affect to all variables except plant height. Physiological responses showed that at every ten days watering periods, the crimson varieties gives the highest plant height (33.85 cm), the brown varieties gives the highest number of leaves (30), the dark brown varieties have the highest RWC (88.675%), and the highest content of chlorophyll a (0.5088 mg/L), chlorophyll b (1.595 mg/L), and total chlorophyll (1.5095 mg/L) are found in white varieties. The supply of water at every ten days is the optimum time of drought stress in cowpea. Further research will be needed on the responses of the other variables for screening, selection, then multi-location trials to obtain tolerant local cowpea varieties to drought.

Abstract. Karuwal RL, Suharsono, Tjahjoleksono A, Hanif N. 2021. Short Communication: Characterization and nutrient analysis of seed of local cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) varieties from Southwest Maluku, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 85-91. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is a legume species that have many local varieties across regions in Indonesia, including in Southwest Maluku District. It has been utilized by the community as raw materials, but mainly for food sources of self-consumption. While there are rich local varieties of cowpea in Southwest Maluku, the data about its morphological characters and nutritional compositions are not available. The objectives of the research were to analyze morphological characters and nutritional compositions of local seven cowpea varieties from Southwest Maluku and classify these varieties according to such characters and compositions. Morphological characters observed consisted of shape, color, texture, eye pattern, eye color, size (length, width, thickness), and 100-grain weight. Nutritional composition consisted of proximate analysis tested using AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemist) method and folic acid content using HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) method. The results showed that the varieties have significant variation in morphological characters and nutrition composition. There are differences in shape, color, texture, eye pattern, and color. Seed size in terms of length, width and thickness have range values of 5-9 mm, 4-6 mm, 3-4 mm, respectively while seed weight ranges 11-19 g. Furthermore, nutrition composition is significantly affected by varieties. Moisture content ranges between 11-17%, ash content of 3.13-3.97%, fat content of 0.58-1.42%, protein of 15.5-20.76%, carbohydrate of 58.46-63.48% and folic acid content of 100.13-131.57 µg/mL. There is significant correlation between morphology characters and nutrition composition. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that local varieties can be classified into three clusters. Therefore, KM1, KM3, KM4 and KM7 varieties that have the highest size, weight, and nutrition composition can be selected in plant breeding.

Sinay H, Karuwal RL. 2018. Short Communication: Genetic variability of local corn cultivars from Kisar Island, Maluku, Indonesia based on morphological characters. Biodiversitas 19: 2302-2307. The purpose of this research is to know the relationship of local corn cultivars derived from Kisar Island based on the morphological characterization. The research was conducted in Kisar Island, Southwest Maluku District, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The morphological characterization was performed on 5 stem characters, 14 leaf characters, 15 male flower characters, 2 female flower characters, 12 cob characters, and 12 seed characters. The description was conducted using the corn descriptor guide by CIMMYT, IBPGR, UPOV, and Departemen Pertanian Republik Indonesia. Color standardization was conducted following standard color charts from the Royal Horticultural Society Color Chart. The data was described and scored based on the appearance of each plant organ observed in the field relative to the descriptor guide. The scoring results were then standardized into 0/1 binary data, which were then analyzed by NTSYS program used for dendrogram construction. Cluster analysis shows that there are two main groups of corn cultivars. The first group consists of merah delima tongkol cokelat, merah darah, putih, kuning genjah, and merah delima tongkol putih. The second group consists of kuning dalam and pulut cultivars.