Contribuţii Botanice – 2018, LIII: 49-56 DOI: 10.24193/Contrib.Bot.53.5 Grădina Botanică “Alexandru Borza” Cluj-Napoca PRELIMINARY MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF LOCAL DURIAN (DURIO ZIBETHINUS MURR.) OF CRIWIK REGION (CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA) Andini Desi SAWITRI, Endang YUNIASTUTI, NANDARIYAH Agronomy Program, Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta, 57126, Indonesia e-mail: andini.dessi@gmail.com yuniastutisibuea@staff.uns.ac.id Abstract: Indonesia has become one of the centres of genetic diversity of durian, but studies about superior local durian are still limited, so a study of morphological analysis is required to obtain potentially superior durians. This research aims: 1) To understand the morphological diversity of some local Criwik durians; 2) To obtain information about local durian that has potential characters as a superior local durian of Criwik Region. This research used descriptive explorative research method with sampling taken by purposive random sampling. The morphological character observations were made on both vegetative and reproductive organs and then analyzed using NTSYS 2.02. Based on this research, vegetative analysis revealed 10 accessions of durian that have morphological differences. In reproductive organ analysis we found local durians with distinctive superior properties. Keywords: Genetic diversity, superior durian, Indonesian durian, morphological analysis, plant breeding, plant germplasm. Introduction Durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.) is one of the tropical fruits of high economic value [7]. It is one of the most popular and famous seasonal fruits in South-east Asia, as well as the source of carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins B and C [10,3]. The demand for durians from the overseas market increases from year to year, and nowadays domestic and overseas consumers are targeting local durians because of the many local varieties that have superior qualities [17]. The problem that currently arises is that absence of regeneration causes durian crops to be only a relictual heritage, so some local durian varieties begin to be rarely found [17]. In addition, rural communities and governments have difficulties in developing local varieties due to the lack of information to develop these local durian varieties, such as those occurring in Rembang regency. Rembang regency is one of the regencies (rural administrative districts) in Central Java province that has a large local diversity of durians, especially in Criwik village, a durian tourist centre. On the other hand, information related to local cultivars is limited, because the diversity of the durian trees in Rembang district has not been studied before. According to Yuniastuti (2009), limited genetic information can be an obstacle in the development of durian breeding, as it can inhibit the determination of the method or direction of plant breeding. Further research on the potential of local durian germplasm is needed to obtain information on potentially superior durian cultivars through character analysis and plant selection based on morphological