The effect of liquid organic fertilizer and pearl grass extract on shoot growth of gotu kola (Centella asiatica) in vitro

Hayanti IP, Amiputri RB, Praswanto. 2012. The effect of liquid organic fertilizer and pearl grass extract on shoot growth of gotu kola (Centella asiatica) in vitro. Biofarmasi 10: 54-60. Gotu kola (Centella asiatica L.) is a medicinal crop, needed by local industry of pharmacy. Gotu kola in Indonesia is not enough to supply in market requisites. Tissue culture method was used to multiply gotu kola with a combination of medium from liquid organic fertilizer and pearl grass extract. The purposes of the research were to determine the effect of liquid organic fertilizer and pearl grass extract on the shoot growth of gotu kola in vitro, and to obtain the optimal concentration of liquid organic fertilizer and pearl grass extract combination on the shoot formation of gotu kola in vitro. The research was conducted in November 2010 to June 2011 in Plant Physiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta. The experimental design used was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two treatment factors and three replications. The first factor was liquid organic fertilizer concentrations, i.e. 0 mL/L, 2 mL/L, 4 mL/L and 8 mL/L. The second factor was pearl grass extract, i.e. 0 mL/L, 3 mL/L, 6 mL/L and 12 mL/L. Variables observed were the percentage of shoot formation, the time of shoot formation, the number of shoot, the length of shoot, the percentage of leaf formation, the time of leaf formation and the number of leaf. The result of the research showed that not all of treatments provided shoot formation. The combination of liquid organic fertilizer concentrations 0 mL/L and pearl grass extract 12 mL/L showed the best results, in which the average of length of shoot was 2.16 cm, the number of shoot was 8 and the number of leaf was 8.