Exploration and Characterization of “Uwi” Plant (Dioscorea sp.) in East Java Uplands, Indonesia

“Uwi” (Dioscorea sp.) is a tuber plant species with potentials to support the national food diversity program because it has high tolerance when planted in upland areas, which are wide in Indonesia and beyond. The study aims to rescue germplasm of “Uwi” plants through exploration, identification, and collection for the sake of national long–term goal of providing alternative food sources to support food security. The research began with exploration of the west upland area of East Java, and continued with specimen planting for characterization testing in the following year. Exploration resulted in 127 samples of variants observed throughout uplands in Madiun, Ponorogo, Ngawi, Magetan and Pacitan, East Java, Indonesia with each result of 28, 26, 9, 20 and 44 variants. Five big groups of Dioscorea family namely Dioscorea alata, Dioscorea aculeata, Dioscorea hispida, Dioscorea pentaphylla and Dioscorea bulbifera were mapped out as a result. Using SPSS cluster analysis, D. alata as the most variant were specified into 20 groups and further gathered into seven clusters based on its main botanical characteristics of leaf shape, leaf color, stem color, tuber color, tuber shape, and skin color of the tuber. Meanwhile, D. aculeata and D. pentaphylla were each detailed into two sub–clusters and other types were each detailed into one.