Polyploid Induction in Kale Plants (Ipomoea aquatica) by Administration of Colchicine

Abstract

Kale is one of the lowland plants and is one type of annual herbaceous plant that is consumed as a vegetable and is favored by people around the world. Kale plants are diploid (2n = 2x = 30) with small stem and leaf morphology. One of the efforts to increase productivity and biomass can be done by increasing ploidy. Induction using colchicine has been widely done in the process of polyploidization in plants and most of these inductions are successful. Colchicine with the right concentration will weaken the preparation of microtubules, this causes the mitotic stage to be inhibited resulting in the number of chromosomes in the plant will be doubled and produce polyploid plants. This type of research is experimental research in the form of polypoid induction in kale plants by administering colchicine. The treatment was given by soaking the kale seeds for 24 hours in colchicine solution consisting of control concentration (T0), 0.1% (T1), 0.3% (T2) and 0.5% (T3). In this study, no kale chromosomes were seen due to factors such as not using hydrolysis solution and lack of skill in squashing. In this study, kale chromosomes were not visible in all treatments. Many factors caused the invisibility of kale chromosomes such as not using hydrolysis solution and lack of skill in squashing. It is recommended that this research be developed again in the methods and solutions used so that chromosomes can be seen under the microscope.