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1 Introduction

Handeuleum (Graptophyllum pictum L. Griff.) is a medicinal plant that has potential to be one of the flagship medicinal plants in Indonesia. Handeuleum leaf has long been used as a traditional medicine to cure various diseases. Manoi (2010) showed that the handeuleum of Bogor accession has a high phytochemical content that is useful for treatment. Induction of mutations can be applied to increase the high phytochemical content that may be used for the development of Indonesian traditional medicine. Gamma ray irradiation could affect the growth and development of plants by altering the physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and morphological changes in cells and tissues. A low rate of gamma rays could stimulate growth (Melki and Marouni 2010), increase chlorophyll content (Jan et al. 2013), and increase the content of carotenoids (Kim et al. 2005), whereas high rates of gamma rays could interfere with the activity of the enzyme (Stajner et al. 2009). This study was aimed to determine the effect of gamma irradiation rates on the anatomy and phytochemical content of handeuleum leaves.

2 Materials and Methods

Rates of gamma irradiation consisted of eight levels: 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 105 Gy. Each treatment consisted of 10 replicates, using the cuttings for irradiated materials. Irradiation was performed at Pusat Aplikasi Isotop dan Radiasi (PAIR; Center for Isotope and Radiation Applications) BATAN, Jakarta. Observation of leaf anatomical characteristics was conducted in the Microtechnique Laboratory of the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Bogor Agricultural University.

Plants were taken from the propagation of handeuleum cuttings of Bogor accession that has high phytochemical content. Cuttings with the length of three sections planted in polybags with soil as a medium:compost in the ratio of 2:1 (v/v). Cuttings of 1 month old that have rooted and produced new leaves with a height of approximately 15 cm were removed from the media, cleaned of soil, and its roots were wrapped in an aluminum foil. Cuttings were then irradiated using gamma rays from ionizing cobalt 60 using a gamma irradiator chamber 4000A (Irpasena, India). Cuttings that have been irradiated were immediately planted in new media, grown under small lemur for around 2 months, then removed to a polybag with a diameter...

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