Morphological characteristics and productivity of sugar palm saps at several levels of tapping age

Arenga pinnata (Wurmb) Merr is a multipurpose plant, its main product is sugar palm saps containing sugar collected by tapping the male inflorescence. The aim of the research is to evaluate the morphological characteristics, productivity, and quality of saps from three levels of tapping age (early, mid, and final tapping). The results showed that the morphological characteristics at three age levels of tapping have a high diversity in morphological variables (plant height, stem circumference, number of leaves, and number of female inflorescence). The productivity component of palm saps can be described as follows: tapping period between 15-214 days; morning saps volume between 41.30-1511 l/inflorescence; afternoon saps volume between 34.80-1139 l/inflorescence; total saps volume between 76.10-2650 l/inflorescence; morning saps discharge between 0.20-0.96 liter/inflorescence/hour; afternoon saps discharge between 0.23-0.67 l/inflorescence/hour; and productivity of saps between 4.47-14.62 l/inflorescence/day. The volume productivity of the sap at the initial tapping age level is relatively low (between 323.00-614.20 l/inflorescence), increase at the mid tapping age (between 570.20-2 650.00 l/inflorescence), and decrease at the final tapping age (between 76.10-445.00 l/inflorescence). The quality of palm saps are: total soluble solids between 11.00-16.80%, pH of saps between 7.00-7.10, and sugar content between 8.09-13.52%.