goodmorningpapua.com – For preserving various types of native Papuan orchids, the Department of Biology, Biology major of FMIPA, Cenderawasih University, cultivates orchids by means of multiplication or propagation by tissue culture.
A Head of the Tissue Culture Laboratory and Orchidarium, Faculty of Biology, Uncen, Nelly Lunga, explained that Uncen chose the cultivation of orchids, because the forests in Papua have very many orchids; natural orchid species are indeed abundant. However, given the increasing development, the continued extensive deforestation, it is feared that this orchid population will disappear if it is allowed to continue.
“With continuous deforestation, it can certainly damage the population of the orchid itself, so far maybe many people are not aware about preserving orchid plants, for that we from Uncen are trying to cultivate orchids so they don’t become extinct quickly,” he told goodmorningpapua.com, Saturday. (2/7) yesterday.
He admitted, to preserve this orchid plant, his party used a fairly fast method, namely through multiplication because the orchids themselves that grow in the forest are very difficult to grow, even though orchids have many seeds produced.
“Orchid seeds are difficult to grow when they fall on any medium, so we have to use technology in order to produce orchid development in greater numbers and also in a faster time,” he explained.