Abstract
Begonia is an ornamental plant that has a high level of morphological diversity. Begonia propagation is mostly done vegetatively and very rarely to propagate sexually. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the ability of six types of Begonia seeds to germinate. Six types of Begonia, namely B. x albopicta W. Bull 'Coral Rubra', B. gambutensis Ardi & D.C.Thomas, B. multistaminea Burt-Utley, B. nelumbifolia Schltdl. & Cham., B. ulmifolia Wild. and B. varipeltata D.C.Thomas. were grown in a petri dish and placed in a growth chamber with a temperature of 23.6 ℃, humidity of 74.5%, and a light intensity of 3,431 lux. The results showed that the different types of Begonia showed significant differences in all the parameters tested. B. nelumbifolia required 7.89 ± 0.18 days to germinate and is the fastest time than other types. The highest percentage of seed germination was also obtained by this species, amounting to 63.22%. In addition, B. nelumbifolia showed the best response to the germination rate coefficient, germination rate index, and germination index. This study revealed complete information about the germination of six types of Begonia. In addition, the ability to produced many seeds and the ease of germination made this plant have the potential to be cultivated through seeds. Furthermore, the information can be used as a basis for seed storage as an ex-situ conservation method to maintain genetic diversity.
Highlights
Begonia (Begoniaceae) is one of the fifth or sixth largest taxa with more than 1,800 species
Native Begonia was obtained from the exploration of plants in Indonesian forests like B. gambutensis, B. multistaminea, B. nelumbifolia and B. varipeltata
While the exotic Begonia were those had been widely cultivated by hobbyists and ornamental plant lovers like a B. x albopicta
Summary
Begonia (Begoniaceae) is one of the fifth or sixth largest taxa with more than 1,800 species. The morphological diversity of Begonia is high, and the actual number of these species in nature is estimated to be between 2,000 and 2,500 species (Haba, 2015; Tian et al, 2018). The number of Begonia collections that have been conserved at BBG based on the Registration unit catalog as of February 2021 is 310 species. Begonia is an ornamental plant that has a high level of morphological diversity (Haba, 2015). Pollinated flowers will form fruit and produce seeds. Haba (2015) stated that Begonia schmidtiana fruit 'Chauncy' produces about 6,500 ovules per capsule. Not all of the ovules will become seeds, but this plant has the potential to produce many offspring in one flowering cycle. The problems are, male fertility is not necessarily linked to female fertility as different genes may underlie male and female meiosis, so it cannot produce seed (Dewitte et al, 2011)
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