Characteristics of purple-green stem Echinacea in the responses of gamma ray irradiation

Abstract

The increasing demand of Echinacea purpurea as a raw material for herbal medicines and its availability which still relies on imported supplies encourage the development of Echinacea on a national scale. This research aims to increase the diversity of Echinacea to rise varieties of germplasm diversity, in hope later it helps to produce good qualities of Echinacea. Research was conducted from August 2022 to February 2023 at the Jumantono Experimental Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, UNS. This study used a simple experimental design method that compared the control treatment with gamma radiation treatment of 20, 30, and 40 Gy. Each treatment was repeated as many as 20 replicates, so there were 80 experimental units. Data were analysed descriptively and by independent t-test. Limited to this study, it was concluded that gamma ray irradiation enhanced characteristic of purple-green stem Echinacea compared to the control treatment.