Optimization of In Vitro micropropagation of Acmella uliginosa using different concentrations of Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA)

Acmella uliginosa or “subang nenek” is the medicinal plant broadly distributed in the tropic and sub-tropic especially in West Indies, Venezuela, Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The study was carried out to observe the effect of various IAA hormones towards the root induction from the seeds explant and to establish the in vitro micropropagation technique for Acmella uliginosa due to previous studies was more focusing on other species such as Acmella oleracea. Six different concentration of IAA hormone: 0.1 mg/L, 0.2 mg/L, 0.3 mg/L, 0.4 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L and 0.0 mg/L (control) were used in this study to observe the impact of different concentration of hormone towards rooting induction in in vitro A. uliginosa seedlings. The seeds were inoculated in the MS medium containing six different concentrations. After 30 days, the length of the roots generated and the mean of the root length were evaluated. Observation shows that there is a significant effect caused by the IAA hormone on the growth of root. The highest number of root regenerated from seed explant was 2.667±0.260 and it was observed in MS medium containing 0.5 mg/L of IAA. Root length, number of root and rate of root to induce was analyzed using One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Result of this study revealed, among six type of concentration, the highest response for root induction were observed at 0.5 mg/L IAA. It was observed that at 0.5 mg/L the mean length of root was 2.667±0.260 cm and mean number of root produced was 5.000±0.516 respectively. The time taken for the root to induce is 2±0.000 days. It is proved that 0.5 mg/L IAA is the optimum concentration for root to induce compared to the other IAA concentration.