Improvement of Agronomic Characters of Buru Hotong (Setaria italica (L.) Beauv) through Gamma Irradiation

Abstract

Buru Hotong (Setaria Italica (L.) Beauv) is potential source of food that has not been developed in Indonesia. The plants is in the family Gramineae and a self-pollinated crops. Buru hotong is a type of grasses, have a small seed, and green seed color at early stage and light brown when mature. Althought the nutrient content of buru hotong is very good, but the productivity is low. The plant also has a very high height. Lowering the plant staments a held and can be improve by mutation. The objectives of the research were to study the radiosensitivity of buru hotong to gamma ray irradiation, to obtain information on genetic variation of M2 and M3 populations. Seeds were exposed to gamma ray irradiation at the Center for Biological Resources and Biotechnology, Bogor Agricultural University and the field experiments were conducted at the field station of Bogor Agricultural University. To determine the radiosensitivity, the seeds of buru hotong was treated with gamma ray irradiation at 50 gray, 100 gray, 150 gray, 200 gray, 400 gray, 600 gray, and 800 gray. The M1 population were grown and observe for mortality to determine the radiosensitivity. The results of the observation on M1 showed that gamma ray irradiation gave different responses in germination percentage at each dosage of irradiation. The LD50 for buru hotong was found to be at 342,39 Gy. M2 populations were grown and observed for variability. The results showed that low dose of gamma rays irradiation produced genetic variability of agronomic characters in the M2 generation.