Characterization of Potential Local Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta L) from Papua as Alternative of Staple Food

Abstract

<p>Papua has very diverse genetic resources such as “gembili”. Gembili has a high spiritual and cultural value especially in Kanum tribe in Merauke. The purpose of this activity was to characterize and conserve the local gembili from Papua to provide basic information for breeding purposes. Another objective was to identify the potency of gembili as a staple food alternative for substituting the rice. Characterization was performed on eight accessions of local gembili from Papua which were explored from Merauke and Jayapura. The twenty eights characters of leaves, stems, and tubers were observed on eight accessions from Merauke and Jayapura Regency. Based on this activity there was no difference in the appearance of seven character leaves of thirteen characters observed. The appearances of gembili stems on all the observed characters were generally the same. Furthermore, the<br />appearance of tubers on ten characters showed different results. Seven accessions had the shapes of oval tubers while Orofe accession had oblong circular shape. The outer skin color of the tubers in general was brown, while the colors of the epidermis and tuber meat were varied, i.e. white (white, white-yellow, white-purple) and purple (violet, purple, red-purple). Yara Hasai accession had the highest number and weight of tubers compared to other accessions. The carbohydrates in gembili almost the same or more<br />with carbohydrates found in rice, which is 22.5–31.3%. In other words, gembili had potential as a staple food substitute for rice because of its nutritional contents.</p>

Cultivation and culture of Dioscorea esculenta in Papua

“…Leaf margins are purple with serrated leaf margins (Table 3). The characteristics of gembili leaves in the collection at the Balitbangtan Gene Bank at BBiogen are characterized as light green for young leaves and green for old leaves, according to these results, which are consistent with studies by Setyowati [18] and Sabda [19].…”

Inulin-producing Genes in Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta) and Future Applications for Food Industries in Indonesia

“…It has a sweet and pleasant flavor like that of sweet potato or chestnuts. Recently, local gembili in Papua has been explored as an alternative staple food for substituting rice due to its rich carbohydrate content (22.49-31.30 %) (Sabda et al, 2019). Upon processing, the total dietary fibers in boiled, steamed, and fried gembili are 19.01%, 18.15%, and 24.30% of their dry weight, respectively (Rimbawan & Nurbayani, 2013).…”

“…Gembili is also rich in vitamins, protein, and minerals, containing up to 1.10 mg of proteins, 56. 00 mg of calcium, 49 mg of phosphorus, and 66.40 mg of vitamin C per 100 g of tubers (Sabda et al, 2019). Despite its abundance, the use of gembili in the food industry is very scarce.…”

Propagation of Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta. L) Accession from West Papua by In-Vitro Callus Induction

“…Many endemic plants face extinction due to harvesting, limited distribution and damaged habitats, so the tissue culture method is a successful method for producing plant secondary metabolites [6]. Thus, the use of biotechnology can help multiply gembili plants en masse and quickly, including through the use of in vitro culture techniques.…”