Nursery propagation of sago (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) palm suckers and wildlings for plantation development

Sago palm (Metroxylon sagu Rottb.) gained much popularity and importance as the starch crop of the 21st century due to its ability to thrive in water logged and adverse soil conditions. However, though known as very promising crop based on previous and current researchers, expansion of sago palm cultivation in the Philippines is hindered by the problem of high mortality rate of suckers during outplanting in the field. Hence, the development of propagation technique to produce quality planting materials of sago was carried out in the nursery to address the gap low survival rate of planting. Two trials were set up in the nursery, the first experiment involved the rafting of sago suckers of various sizes such as 1 kg, 2 kg, 3 kg and rafted for 2, 3 and 4 weeks in a pond. The second experiment was carried out using sago wildlings at various leaf stage (2-; 3-; and 4-leaf stage) and potted in different soil media (sago soil-SS, alluvial soil-AS; and SS + AS). Results for the first experiment showed that the percent survival of sago palm suckers was not affected by its size and duration of rafting. Moreover, the different size of sucker and rafting duration did not influence the number and length of roots developed by the sago plant. Based on the findings, the medium-sized or 2 kg-sago suckers is recommended to be used for easy transport and handling during outplanting in the field. On the other hand, the result for the second experiment revealed that SS and a mixture of SS and AS significantly obtained higher rate of wildings survival. Further, observation showed that sago wildlings at the 2-leaf stage planted in SS medium exhibited significant growth rate in terms of plant height and stem girth. Based on the findings of the study it is recommended that sago wildings at the 2-leaf stages with SS or combination of SS and AS potting media is best for higher percentage of survival and faster growth under nursery condition.