Evaluasi Karakter Agro-morfologi Jengger Ayam (Celosia cristata L.) pada Genotipe Mutan M3

Abstract

Celosia cristata L., namely jengger ayam, is an ornamental plant with a unique structure. The flower of C. cristata is shaped grains with small size; thus, the hybridization for increasing the diversity in this plant is challenging. One alternate technique for improving diversity is mutation induction by gamma rays. This study aimed to evaluate the variability of agro-morphological traits in seventeen M3 mutant C. cristata genotypes at the Sabisa Farm garden. Agro-morphological characteristics were evaluated based on descriptors of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) with modification. Analysis of variance was performed using SPPS 20.0, whereas a similarity analysis was performed using PBSTAT-CL 2.1. Significant variability among C. cristata genotypes (p < 0.05) was found for plant height and flower length. Three clusters based on agro-morphological traits were obtained from similarity analysis with the dissimilarity distance of 32%. The results indicated that the agro-morphology traits were able to differentiate the 17 genotypes of C. cristata studied, and therefore it can be used for further research development in plant breeding programs.

Keywords: agro-morphological, diversity, mutation breeding, similarity analysis