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The Fiji sago palm is an endemic palm with a restricted and declining population, whose long-term survival is threatened by habitat loss and unsustainable harvesting for thatch and heart of palm. NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, a Fijian conservation organization, initiated a campaign in 2007 to highlight its endangered status and to stimulate the introduction of conservation management measures. After widespread consultation with the landowners of the remaining sago stands, users, government and administrative agencies, and other stakeholders, a 2010–2015 Species Recovery Plan was endorsed by the government and became the foundation for implementation activities. The plan is currently being reviewed with a view to the preparation of a successor. This paper reviews the successes and failures of the past 5 years of implementation. Despite some notable successes, given the seriousness of the decline of the Fiji sago palm, the achievements can be viewed as mixed, while overall progress has been an insufficient response in the circumstances. In part, this is probably because the is not owned or by the government (which has not contributed funding); the administrative energy still remains with NatureFiji-MareqetiViti which has difficulties in resourcing a program with the necessary continuity.

The differences of starch productivity of sago palms among folk varieties (hereafter, varieties) are discussed from the viewpoint of dry matter production which has been rarely reported in sago palm, to provide basic knowledge to establish the cultivation methods of sago palm and to select varieties for new introduction and breeding of new varieties. The research was performed in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, to clarify the dry matter production and the factors related to it in the sago palm varieties with different starch yields. The results revealed that the varietal differences of starch yield of sago palm varieties, Molat (425 kg dry starch/palm) and Rotan (142 kg in dry starch/palm), are mainly based on the biomass difference and not on the difference of matter distribution ratios to the harvesting part (trunk/pith). The biomass production in sago palm is closely related to the leaf area per plant, mainly determined by the leaf area per leaf compared to the number of leaves per plant. The leaflet width contributed most to the leaf area per leaf. I concluded that the leaf area in sago palm was the key factor to determine the starch yield and varietal differences of leaflet width should be paid attention to as an important character to determine the leaf area.

Suckers are normally used for sago palm propagation. The stem of a transplanted sucker elongates in a horizontal direction on the ground, producing leaves in the first 4–5 years after transplanting (the rosette stage). During the rosette stage, transplanted suckers produce large numbers of daughter suckers which develop from lateral buds. The lateral bud of sago palm (sucker bud) differentiates on the opposite side of the axil. In the suckers for transplantation, detailed observation of the differentiation position and the development of the sucker bud showed that the sucker bud differentiates inside near the connate part of the leaf petiole. This is also the part that is gradually split as new leaves emerge and the stem enlarges. In the lower leaf position from rbL 6, which is the sixth leaf from the youngest leaf primordium, there were only one sucker bud and two sucker buds on leaf positions of 30.1% and 68.1%, respectively. Sago palm has reduplicate leaves; however, little has been reported on the leaf formation process of sago palm. The youngest visible leaf, a spear leaf, contains a number of folded leaflets and these open as the plant grows. Observation of the cross section of a spear leaf after trunk formation and the unemerged young leaves during rosette stage showed that the midribs of leaflet are on the adaxial side, and the edges of leaflet are on the abaxial side. When splitting occurs along the abaxial ribs, leaflets that are Λ-shaped in section form. These suggest that splitting would occur along the abaxial ribs in sago palm. An approximately 8-year observation of the stem length in the creeping part of transplanted suckers revealed that the creeping part length increased exponentially from transplantation to around 4 years, thereafter, and gradually increased slowly. As a result of growth analysis for creeping elongation of the sucker stem, the maximum elongation rate was estimated as 0.38 m per year at YAT 3.8.

Amyloplasts, in which starch granules accumulate, are formed near the apical portion of sago palm stems. Amyloplast separation and division occur abundantly and specifically in the apical portion and in the basal stem during the middle and even in the late growth stage. Because of those separations and divisions, amyloplast sizes differ greatly among varieties and stem portions within a plant. The numbers of amyloplasts in the cross-sectional area of the parenchyma tissue also differ among cultivars. Generally, a stem parenchyma cell has 10–30 amyloplasts. Most amyloplasts are egg-like structures with a smooth surface. Still, the sago palm starch grain size is situated in the middle of grain sizes of 54 examined plant species. Furthermore, intercellular spaces are large in sago palm stem tissue, accounting for nearly 40–50% of their total space. This specific feature is a causal factor supporting the starch yield. These results suggest that the separation and division, amyloplast shape, amyloplast size diversity, and large intercellular spaces are specific to sago palm stems. Moreover, intercellular spaces are large in stem tissue, which might be a factor strongly affecting the starch yield.

Soils (acid sulfate soils, peat soils, gley soils, and others) distributed under sago forest and their productivity of sago palm are described in this chapter. Sago palm in tropical lowland areas is growing with the formation of the communities behind the mangrove forest. The main sources of water for sago palm are rivers, which are present in the eutrophic environment and more or less affected by sea tides. Sago palm equipped with the mechanism to eliminate salt effect or regulate salt uptake in several ways can grow in brackish water. Acid sulfate soils are derived from sulfate ion (SO) in seawater. Sulfate ion is reduced to form sulfide compounds by sulfate-reducing bacteria in soils (potential acid sulfate soils). Sulfide compounds are oxidized to sulfate ion and hydrogen ion is produced by sulfur- and iron-oxidizing bacteria in soils (actual acid sulfate soils). The sago starch yield is observed to be extremely high near the coast and lower in the inland places (soil pH 3.3–3.8). The tropical woody thick peat soils called Histosols in the tropical rainforest climate of Southeast Asian islands are formed to transport small amount of sediments by the shorter rivers compared to large rivers of continents. The constituent components in water flowing into tropical peat soils ensure the normal growth of sago palm. In Sarawak no effect of nitrogen (N) application on leaf production of sago palm was found, which was explained by the findings of endophytes’ activities on the nitrogen fixation. The sago palm growth in Inceptisols of the Philippines and Indonesia at the different stages was larger than those in Histosols of Malaysia from the long-term growth study.

Microbes are ubiquitous soil inhabitants. Both aboveground and belowground parts of plants are associated with diverse and abundant microbes. Such microbes have positive and negative impacts on the plant productivity. Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is such a beneficial interaction. To reveal BNF by free-living bacteria in sago palm, different parts (root, rachis, petiole, leaflet, bark, pith, and extracted starch) were collected in the Philippines, and their nitrogen-fixing ability was measured. Almost all the samples showed positive nitrogen fixation. Then, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (NFB) were isolated, belonging to different genera, such as sp., sp., sp., sp., and sp. All the isolates preferred simple carbon compounds, like glucose, sucrose, and mannitol, as their substrates for nitrogen fixation, while they showed very low activity in starch, pectin, and hemicellulose media. When NFB were cocultured in such a medium with the polymer-degrading bacteria, nitrogen-fixing ability was markedly increased. Stimulatory effects were observed in Rennie medium by co-inoculation of NFB and indigenous bacterial consortia isolated from sago palm samples. These results indicate that complex microbial interactions may increase in situ nitrogen fixation and contribute to nitrogen nutrition in sago palm. This chapter also introduces characteristics of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and amounts of BNF in palm trees in recent studies.

New Guinea Island (NGI) is the origin of sago palm. Sago became a food plant not only in NGI but was also dispersed to Asian areas for use as a staple food. In the current study, the transformation of extraction technology and the trends in sago consumption were surveyed in the area of sago origin and the other areas subsequently adopted sago palm in Indonesia. The original starch extraction method was to pulverize the sago pith with an ax and wash the pieces of pith by hand, which was practiced in NGI. Then this technology of starch extraction was transferred to western Indonesia through the process described below.

: Original form of pith crushing by ax (chopping with an ax while sitting and a long ax while standing) transferred to west part of Indonesia and Malaysia, followed by further development in grater forms and adaptation to rasper machine use.

: Original form of washing by hand was transferred to the west for further modification of crushing the pith by foot with high-pressure water (pumping and gravity) form. This form of washing by water flow is a transformation from a horizontal to a vertical direction.

Sago starch is used for various foods from (dough type with soup) as a staple food to confectionery products (, baked crackers, cookies, or jellies), noodles, and dry powder (a substitute for other starches).

An important aspect of sago production system depends on farmers’ needs, whether they sell it or utilize it themselves. The next important issue is to increase production for the commercial market. In this step, group production system is adapted in the process. This group work is performed by farmers which is the target for specialized business. In addition, mechanization has been introduced, like using a rasper for grating and a pump for washing the pith. These transformations indicate how to develop an efficient economic output. Sago is changing from the concept of staple food to other starch food uses and starch goods use, as the social economy and cash-based economy are developed in the rural Indonesian society.

The traditional method of sago starch extraction is a time- and labor-intensive process. The most laborious stage is pith disintegration which is done by using a hammer-like tool called a pounder followed by washing and screening the starch. However, the use of mechanical processing equipment is saving time and energy. Consequently, sago starch production increased, both in quantity and quality. With regard to the mechanical processing, it is necessary to provide mechanical equipment which is suitable and easy to use by ordinary farmers. This paper provides an overview of improvement of small-scale sago processing machinery in order to improve the performance. It consists of two separate operation units, namely, the cylinder-type sago rasping machine and the stirrer blade-type sago starch extractor. The performance of the improved sago rasping machine is characterized by (a) rasping capacity 730–1009 kg/h, (b) starch percentage 47.2%, and (c) starch loss in sago pith waste of only 4%. Meanwhile, the performance of improved sago extraction machine is (a) extraction capacity 1007 kg of rasped pith per hour, (b) starch percentage was 24%, and (c) starch loss in waste is 2.1%. The machines are intended for small-scale (household) processing of sago and are suitable for adoption in most sago-producing areas, such as those in Papua and Papua New Guinea.

The crystalline structure of sago starch related to the gelatinization characteristics is reported in this chapter, although the sago starch synthesis at the molecular biological level is still under discussion. Sago starch granules are oval with a temple bell-like shape, a mean diameter of 37.59 μm, and exhibit a Maltese cross, indicating the presence of some common internal ordering. Sago starch from its X-ray diffraction pattern shows a peak at around 5.6, 17, 18, and 23° (2θ for Cu Kα), which corresponds to 1.58, 0.521, 0.492, and 0.386 nm, respectively. Sago starch is classified as a C type (a mixture of A type and B type as an accessary), containing slightly higher content of B type in the basal portion of sago palm trunk. Low viscosity of sago starch amylopectin is explained by the presence of smaller molecule with a slightly higher number of long chains than the high-viscosity amylopectin. The gelatinization temperature and enthalpy of sago starch determined by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) are 69.4–70.1 °C and 15.1–16.6 J g, depending on the moisture content, degree of a crystallinity within the granule, granule size, and the amylose to amylopectin ratio. The observation of granular birefringence (Maltese cross) under polarized light is one of the useful tools to determine the gelatinization behavior of sago starch.

The objective of this study was to investigate sago starch recovery from sago pith waste (SPW) using wet milling and its physical properties. For comparative purposes, the same parameters were evaluated for untreated sago starch. As a result of the super mass colloider mill (SMCM), a 21% dry basis of sago starch can be recovered from SPW. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the granule morphology was not changed. X-ray diffraction showed that relative crystallinity and diffractogram patterns between SMCM sago starch and untreated sago starch were similar. Particle size distribution analysis demonstrated that untreated and SMCM sago starch were relatively narrow and uniform size distribution and the particle size distribution index were not different. The results indicate that wet milling of SPW using a SMCM can increase sago starch yield and the physical properties of SMCM sago starch were similar to untreated sago starch.