抄録
Changes in leaf characteristics with age and leaf area, shoot biomass and its ratio in each organ and part at the harvest stage (flower bud formation stage) of gebang palms grown in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara and on Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia were surveyed. The changes in leaf characteristics were small from the early trunk elogation stage to the flower bud formation stage. The great shoot biomass at the harvest stage of gebang palm was achieved by the long growth period rather than the size of the leaf area. In addition, the ratio of the leaf biomass was small, and that of trunk biomass was extremely high, 90–95%. However, due to the development of the outer peripheral fibrous tissue of the pith, the ratio of the bark biomass, including the peripheral fibrous tissue of the pith in the trunk biomass, became high, and the ratio of pith biomass was 70–80%, which is slightly lower than that of the sago palm and almost the same as that of the sugar palm. Therefore, it was clarified that the high biomass of pith, which is the accumulation part of starch, in the gebang palm was secured by the high biomass at the harvest stage, not by the superior distribution of assimilated products to the pith. Moreover, the starch productivity of the gebang palm was presumed to be superior because of the high pith biomass and high starch percentage in the pith.
