Morphology and physiology of Echinacea purpurea in the vegetative phase result of gamma ray irradiation

Abstract

Coneflower is a medicinal plant that was introduced from North America. This plant is useful as an immunomodulator, which can protect the human body’s immune system from extreme climate change. Coneflower plants in Indonesia are generally grown in highlands that have low temperatures as in their native areas. Indonesia’s tropical environmental conditions, especially in the lowlands, and increasing temperatures as part of global warming are a concern for coneflower cultivation because high climate differences can affect plant growth and physiology. One of the efforts to improve plant properties to obtain plants that are suitable for living in a high-temperature environment can be done by gamma-ray irradiation. The purpose of this study was to determine the growth and physiology of the Coneflower plant irradiated by gamma rays. The study was conducted using a simple design experiment method by planting the population per treatment into successive plots. The seeds used were Coneflower plant accession 2 seeds from the Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicines Research and Development Centre (B2P2TOOT) Tawangmangu. The irradiation doses used were 0 (control), 5Gy, 15Gy, and 25Gy. The results showed the highest plant height, and the number of leaves on 15 Gy irradiated plants. The highest total chlorophyll content was in 5Gy irradiated plants, while the highest leaf area was in 25Gy irradiated plants. Morphology and physiology of irradiated plants showed greater growth than control plants.