Utilization of Gamma Co-60 Radiation for Chili Plant (Capsicum annuum L.) Breeding by Using a Physical Mutagen Method

Abstract

Chili is one type of vegetable that has many benefits and is favored in Indonesia and aboard. The benefits of chili are used as a kitchen spice and are used in the health sector as a mixture of herbal medicines and even as anti-cancer. Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, chili productivity per plant is still relatively low (0.20-0.33 kg/tree or 6.84 tons/ha, so there needs an effort for improvement of productivity. Increased chili productivity can be done by plant breeding. In this study has been carried out Co-60 gamma radiation in plant breeding of chili (Capsicum annuum L.) by physical mutagen method. The chili used is red chili (hot chili F1). The purpose of this study is to find out the right Co-60 radiation dose for chili plant breeding. The gamma radiation dose used is 0 Gy as a control, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 Gy. The results showed that the right radiation dose for chili plant breeding was 75 Gy.