<![CDATA[ABSTRAK. Ketersediaan varietas unggul yang sesuai dengan kebutuhan konsumen menjadi syarat yang harus dipenuhi dalam industrialisasi pertanian dan liberalisasi perdagangan. Varietas unggul dapat dirakit jika tersedia keragaman sumberdaya genetik. Keberadaan koleksi plasma nutfah harus terus dipertahankan dan ditingkatkan sejalan dengan tuntutan perakitan varietas untuk memperkaya cadangan gen, kemudian dikonservasi secara ex-situ agar mudah dalam perawatan, evaluasi, pengamanan, dan pemanfaatannya. Eksplorasi plasma nutfah tanaman markisa dilakukan di beberapa daerah sentra produksi markisa di Sumatera Utara dan Sumatera Barat. Koleksi plasma nutfah tanaman markisa dilakukan di Kebun Percobaan Tanaman Buah, Berastagi. Penelitian dilaksanakan pada bulan Juni 2005 sampai Pebruari 2006. Penelitian bertujuan mengumpulkan dan mengkarakterisasi plasma nutfah, serta membentuk kebun koleksi plasma nutfah tanaman markisa. Hasil eksplorasi telah diperoleh 7 aksesi markisa yang terdiri dari 4 aksesi markisa asam (Passiflora edulis) dan 3 aksesi markisa manis (P. ligularis). Koleksi contoh tanaman dari 7 aksesi markisa tersebut telah ditanam di Kebun Percobaan Tanaman Buah, Berastagi dan masih dalam fase pertumbuhan vegetatif. Data diskripsi indigenous dari 7 aksesi markisa yang diperoleh telah disimpan dalam file elektronik.ABSTRACT. Karsinah, F. H. Silalahi, and A. Manshur. 2007. Exploration and Characterization of Passion Fruit Germplasm. The availability of superior varieties that suitable to consumer preference become very important on agriculture industrialization and free-trade liberalization. So that, the germplasm collection must be maintained and increased in accordance with demand for varieties improvement and enrichment of genes resources, afterwards those genes must be conserved by ex situ conservation to make easy in maintenance, evaluation, and utilization of those germplasm. The research was conducted from June 2005 to February 2006 in several areas of passion fruit production center in North Sumatera and West Sumatera. Collection of passion fruit germplasm were conducted in Berastagi Experimental Field. The aims of the study were to collect and characterize of passion fruit germplasm, as well as to establish passion fruit germplasm collection field. The results of the study showed that there were 7 accessions of passion fruit collected from exploration, consisted of 4 accessions of Passiflora edulis Sims and 3 accessions of Passiflora ligularis Juss. Collection of those 7 accessions of passion fruit have been planted in Berastagi Experimental Field and still in the vegetative growth stage. The data of indigenous description of 7 accessions have been stored in an electronic file disk.]]>
