Application of Principal Component Analysis in distinguishing three species of ‘jernang’ (Daemonorops spp.)

Abstract

The province of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra has a total area of 5,75 million hectares. Its forest resources are considerably extensive as 60% of its total land area is still considered as ‘forest area’. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) are defined as any wild plant and animal products harvested from forests, e.g., ‘jernang’ or dragon blood (Daemonorops spp.). It is classified as one of the valuable NTFP’s harvested from the forests in Aceh. Its morphological features resemble that of rattan (Calamus spp.), both of which belong to Aracaceae. The red resin of Daemonorops spp. is highly valued in Chinese medicine and possesses anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-hemostatic properties. Almost 112 species of Daemonorops spp. exist. However, only 10% produces the red resin. Daemonorops draco, D. mattanensis, D. didymophylla are considered to have significant economic values. Over the past decade, a farmer living in central and western Aceh has cultivated dragon blood plants in small farms and sold the seedlings. In this study, the morphological variations of dragon blood (N=11) from Kuta Panang in central Aceh were assessed, and the Principal Component Analyses (PCA) were applied in order to distinguish the three species. Up to 92% of total variations were significantly explained with PC1, while the remaining were explained with PC2. Among the three species measured with PCA, Daemonorops draco or known as super ‘jernang’, appeared to have more distinctive morphological characteristics, e.g., fruit-, and stem diameter, as well as a number of fruit per trunk. These characteristics would contribute to better yield and field performance.

Genetic Diversity of Cultivated Gayo Arabica Coffee (Coffee arabica L.) Revealed via Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Marker and Their Morphological Characteristics

“…Note: 1 Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch state enterprise known as VOC); 2 HdT = natural hybrid the arabica x robusta (arabusta type). Its resistance genes were transferred from the robusta (C. canephora) originated from East Timor, and known to be more robust against many coffee diseases; 3 Catimor' variety is actually originated from a cross between "Caturra x Hybrido de Timor (HdT)" or locally known widely as 'Timtim'; 4 -Post pandemic: two major situations happened: (i) many farmers select intensively few of particular lines, but there were majorly still the 'Catimor' progenies for over many decades; (ii) an extremely man-made selection was applied and this might have probably resulted the genetic bottle-neck to some local varieties (Renes 1989) and personal interview in 2021.…”

“…Note: 1 Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch state enterprise known as VOC); 2 HdT = natural hybrid the arabica x robusta (arabusta type). Its resistance genes were transferred from the robusta (C. canephora) originated from East Timor, and known to be more robust against many coffee diseases; 3 Catimor' variety is actually originated from a cross between "Caturra x Hybrido de Timor (HdT)" or locally known widely as 'Timtim'; 4 attributed with very excellent cup quality, but very susceptible to the Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) diseases outbreak in 1970 to 1990.…”

“…Further, a two-or three-dimensional graph usually would be presented and from the visualization, we could further classify, group, and nally select the most signi cant accessions, based on the desired traits or characters that have been previously set by a plant breeder, and this kind of selection based on the PCA visualization is usually applied by breeder in many breeding activities (Andini et al 2021), including selection of the desired cultivar (see: Table 2). The data PCA based on the morphological characteristics were intended to complement and enrich the genetic data generated by the molecular analyses via Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR).…”