Indonesia is a country that has high biodiversity, so that Indonesia is called a "mega biodiversity" country. One of the riches of biodiversity in Indonesia is plants. The high wealth of plant biodiversity in Indonesia can be a great capital for their development and utilization, so as to improve human welfare. Knowledge of the richness of biodiversity as a bio-resource from an economic, cultural and ecological perspective is still very low. The benefits of bio-resource in Indonesia depend on how we manage wealth.
Parasite plant is a group of parasitic plants which in general people think that these plants are always harmful, because they attack and damage various types of plantation crops, road shading plants, and collectibles. For example those found in mango plants, tailings plants, tea plants, and many other plants. This parasitic plant attack can not only cause damage to the host plant but also in a large population that can kill the plant it is parasitized on. On the other hand, several types of parasites can also be useful, especially as medicinal plants and as crafts, namely part of the haustorium. The haustorium is the part of the parasite that attaches itself to its host, where it swells and is uniquely shaped.
In Europe, the Viscum album type parasite has long been used as medicine because it contains many active compounds, namely lectins, viscotoxins used for cancer treatment, as well as certain alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids. The compounds contained in the leaf extract of Dendropthoe pentandra parasite which can act as anti-microbial are alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, steroids and quinones.
Tea parasite (Scurrula oortiana) is one of the list of plants that have been proposed as potential anticancer phytopharmaca, and also have anti-malaria activity. The extract of parasites that live in lime trees is used as a medicine for ambient disease and diarrhea. Cotton parasite has the potential as a natural anti-microbial material for food, especially foods with high water content in fiber, which can be developed as functional food. Knowledge of the types of parasites is needed so that there are no errors in their use. One of the efforts to determine the species in an area is to directly identify each type on campus C, Airlangga University.
The main objective of this study is to generate information about the preferences of plant host parasites that can be used as a basis for future uses, such as science, ecology, ethnobotany, regional economic potential, management of natural resource programs, and comparable to other similar studies. This study aims to reveal mistletoe preferences in host plants at Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia.
This research was conducted in March-April 2018. The method used for the preference test was purposive sampling with an exploratory method, namely by exploring the campus area, and observing parasites using binoculars and taking samples of parasites that grow in various plant species that can be found on campus C University. Airlangga Surabaya.
The preference of host plants for parasites based on the correlation coefficient analysis was -0.276. The results of this study indicated that there were 6 types or species of parasites found at the research location, namely:
- Atropurpurea scurum
- Scurulla parasitica,
- Macrosolen tetragonos
- Dendropthoe pentandra
- Helixanthera sessiflora
- Dendropthoe curvata
There are 22 species of host plants for parasites, namely:
- Trembesi (Samanea Saman)
- Soga (Peltophorum Pterucarpum)
- Guava Water (Syzygium Aqueum)
- Flamboyant (Delonix Regia)
- Srikaya (Annona Squamosa)
- Mahogany (Swietenia Mahagoni)
- Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica)
- Distance (Ricinus Communis)
- Butterfly flower (Bauhinia Purpurea)
- Starfruit (Averrhoa Bilimbi)
- Banyan (Ficus benjamina)
- Kebo Rubber (Ficus Elastic)
- Angsana (Pterocarpus Indicus)
- Teak (Tectona Grandis)
- Acacia (Acacia Mangium)
- Eucalyptus (Melaleuca Leucadendra)
- Sawo Kecik (Manilkara Kauki)
- Mango (Mangifera Indica)
- Keres / Talok (Muntingia Calabura)
- Sengon (Albizia Calcata)
- Bungur (Lagerstroemia Speciosa)
- Lime (Citrus Aurantifolia)
In addition, there are 6 non-host plant species such as:
- Maja (Aegle Marmelos)
- Areca Nut / Jambe (Areca Catechu)
- Palm Oil (Elaeis Cuineensis)
- Mundu (Garcinia Dulcis)
- Xanthosoma Sagittifolium
- Sea Mango (Cerbera Mangha)