Stimulation effect of synthetic plant growth regulator (GA3 and BAP) on young cinchona plant (Cinchona ledgeriana) grown in lowland

Abstract

Cinchona is a pharmaceutical plant that produces medical substance. This plant contains copious type of alkaloid such as quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, and cinchonidine. Several obstacles might restrict cinchona cultivation, mainly climatic factors such as temperature and rainfall. One of the efforts to improve cinchona growth in lowland through the application of synthetic plant growth regulator (PGR). Two stages of experimental design were used in this study: first stage was the application of GA3 in six levels from October to December 2017 and the second stage was six levels of BAP concentrations treatment from July until October 2018. The experimental design used was randomized block design (RBD) with 4 replications at low altitude area for cinchona plant. The results showed GA3 applications have a significant effect towards leaves width and plant height. The 225 ppm of GA3 dosage produced maximum leaf width, 100ppm yielded the maximum number in plant height, and 150ppm produced the highest leaf count. While GA3 as a PGR improved the vegetative characters, various concentration of BAP had positive impact for stem diameter, leaves number, leaves area, and chlorophyll content on young cinchona plant grown in lowland area.