Plant growth and total flavonoid content of Sisyrinchium palmifolium after light intensity and gibberellin treatment

Abstract. Zuaini PAK, Mudyantini W, Solochatun. 2020. Plant growth and total flavonoid content of Sisyrinchium palmifolium after light intensity and gibberellin treatment. Cell Biol Dev 4: 52-63. Dayak onion (Sisyrinchium palmifolium L Syn.: Eleutherine palmifolia L. Merr.) was a plant that has the potential to be developed as a traditional medicine because it contains flavonoid compounds. This research aimed to determine the effect of the application of differences in light intensity and gibberellins on the plant growth and flavonoid content of S. palmifolium. This research used uniform S. palmifolium with a harvest age of 3-4 months and an 8-9 g weight range from Pasir Besar Village, South Pontianak District, Pontianak, Indonesia. The experiment used the Factorial Completely Randomized Design method with two factors treatment and six replications: light intensity (100%, 75%, 50%) and gibberellin concentration (0, 10, 20 ppm). The control was 100% light intensity treatment and 0 ppm gibberellin concentration. The parameters measured were the number of leaves, length, width, time of flowering, number of flowers, and number of bulbs. In the post-harvest, dry and wet weights of bulbs were measured. Then, chlorophyll, carotenoid, and flavonoid contents were assessed using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and stomata density was also analyzed. ANOVA analyzed the data, and if the difference was significant, it was continued with the DMRT test at a significance level of 5%. The results showed that the growth of S. palmifolium was significantly affected by light intensity and gibberellins on the parameters of leaves length; leaves, midrib, and bulbs wet weight; leaves and midrib wet weight; leaves and midrib dry weight; bulbs dry weight; shoot root ratio; leaves carotenoid content, and bulbs carotenoid content. However, parameters had no significant effect on the number of leaves, leaves width, time of flowering, number of flowers, number of bulbs, chlorophyll contents, flavonoid, and stomata density. The 50% light intensity and 10 ppm gibberellins were the best treatments to increase leaves length, leaves, midrib, bulbs wet weight, leaves, and bulbs chlorophyll content of S. palmifolium.