89 Amin Retnoningsih, Enni Suwarsi Rahayu, Ika Puspita Sari CHACARTERIZATION OF LOCAL DURIAN GERMPLASM BASED ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF FRUIT Amin Retnoningsih, Enni Suwarsi Rahayu, Ika Puspita Sari Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Semarang Email: aminretnoningsih2013@gmail.com Abstract. One of the efforts to improve the quality and the conservation of local fruits like durian requires characteristic certainty of durian fruits according to the needs of plant breeders and tastes of consumers. Some durian germplasm at Hortimart Agro Center in Central Java have been successfully characterized. There are 43 accessions with 18 characters covering 64 character states of fruit. The dendrogram showed that those 43 accessions split into 2 groups. Durian Kartomarmo separated from the other 42 accessions. Durian Kartosumarmo has a unique characteristic on its fruit, which has an apex with irregular shape (mammiform). Some durians which have good taste, such as durian Bismo, Cokro, Janoko, and Petruk were grouped together with durian Monthong. The coeffent similarity in 43 accessions of the durian fruit is between 0.44-0.86. The diversity of accessions based on the fruit morphology showed that these 43 accessions were different and not a duplicate of different accessions. It shows that each of accession should be categorized as a different cultivar since there are many other characteristics that have not been observed. Keywords: morphology of fruit, durian, local cultivars INTRODUCTION Southeast Asia is the center of durian diversity, including Indonesia with the greatest durian diversity in Borneo. Around the world, 30 species of durian (genus of Durio) have been identifed, 14 species of which were endemic in Borneo and generally grow wild in the forest (Kimman 2002). Durian cultivars and clones which are were developed and cultivated in Indonesia, especially Durio zibethinus, 28 cultivars of which have been known as superior durian (Reza 2002). In general, farmers cultivate local durian cultivars. Characteristics of local cultivars are usually not clear. It can lead the farmers to the mistake in choosing local cultivar for commercial purposes. The certainty of durian identity is also required for breeding programs. Ani mportant characteristics that always generated is the reproductive form such as fruits. The fruit characteristic