EVALUATION AND SELECTION FENOTYPE OF GARUT PLANT (Maranta arundinacea L.) WITH GAMMA RAY RADIATION TREATMENTS

ABSTRACT Garut (Maranta arundinaceae L.) is one crop a potential alternative source of carbohydrate that has enormous potential to be developed. Food made from arrowroot flour has the advantage that is easy to digest up to very good for health. These plants are generally propagated vegetative, so it has a narrow genetic diversity. To increase the genetic diversity of arrowroot plants, gamma ray irradiation was performed at the Center for Radiation and Isotopes, BATAN, at a dose of 10 to 140 Gy with intervals of 10.  Analysis of morphological changes and the selection was done by observing the characteristic changes of the plant began generating plant shoots up to a maximum plant growth or plant produces flowers. The research objective was to determine the optimal dose of irradiation in determining the LD 50 for expanding the arrowroot plant genetic diversity. The method used was completely randomized design with 15 treatments and two replications. Based on the results revealed that the radiation could be affect to the morphological characteristics of plants such as leaves, number of shoots, plant height and tubers production. Key words: gamma ray radiation, alternative food, Garut plant (Maranta arundinaceae L).