Pematahan Dormansi Benih Kelapa Sawit (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) dengan Perendaman dalam Air Panas dan Giberelin

Abstract

This research was conducted at Seed Processing Unit PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, Pangkalan Bun, Central Borneo on May-August 2014. The purpose of this research was to study dormancy breaking methods of oil palm seeds by hot water soaking and gibberellin application. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with two factors. The first factor was water soaking intensity, consisted of five levels (seeds were soaked in water at 26 ˚C for 7 days [P0], seeds were soaked in 80˚C hot water for 3x24 hours [P1], P1 + water at 26 ˚C for 2 days [P2], P1 + water at 26 ˚C for 4 days [P3], dan P1 + water at 26 ˚C for 6 days [P4]). The second factor was soaking in gibberellin (0, 50, and 100 ppm) after water soaking treatment. The result showed that gibberellin application did not give significant effect on germination of oil palm seed. Seeds of crossing number 2 which was soaked in hot water for 3x24 hours (P1) or seeds of crossing number 5 which was soaked in hot water for 3x24 hours then in water at 26 ˚C for 6 days (P4) were considered as the best treatments with average germination of 41% and 41.6%. However, the percentage of seeds attacked by fungi in treatment P4 was higher (2.3-2.7%) compared to P1 (0-0.7%). Total time required for dormancy breaking and germination by soaking in hot water was faster (46 days) than conventional method (113 days). However, germination percentage of oil palm seeds soaked in hot water was still low (42%), compared to the conventional method (74.7%).