Seaweed has been gaining global interest in agriculture for the development of marine-based plant biostimulants. This research aimed to study the effect of three different liquid extracts of Sargassum sp., acidic, alkaline, and water extract, on the germination and early growth of maize and to evaluate the phytohormones content responsible for the growth. Phytohormones content including Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins (GA), kinetin and zeatin were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and bioassay was performed twice on maize. Parameters observed on the bioassay were germination percentage, number of roots, shoot length, shoot weight and root weight under 4 different concentrations with 0.5; 1.5; 3.5; and 5% in the first bioassay and 3.5% concentration in the second bioassay. Both bioassays following randomized complete design and the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA using post hoc test of Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at error probability of 5% in Genestat software. Phytohormones content in the seaweed extract indicated that alkaline extract was rich in IAA, gibberellin, and zeatin content, while water extract showed the highest kinetin content. The first bioassay indicated that lower concentration of the seaweed extracts gave better growth in all extracts, therefore a 3.5% concentration was chosen for the second bioassay with higher replication for each treatment. The second bioassay confirmed alkaline extract resulted in the highest germination while the highest seedling height, number of roots, shoot and root weight were resulted from acidic extract treatment. In conclusion, Sargassum sp. extracts obtained from acidic, alkaline, and water-based extraction methods, were able to improve the shoot and root growth of maize plants. The acidic extract showed the highest growth promotion among other extracts with the lowest phytohormones content.

Sex expression contributes to fruit quality and yield in the Cucurbitaceae. In melon, orchestrated regulation by sex determination genes explains the mechanism of sex expression, resulting in a great variety of sexual morphologies. In this study, we examined the Japanese weedy melon UT1, which does not follow the reported model of sex expression. We conducted QTL analysis using F2 plants for flower sex on the main stem and the lateral branch and mapped a 'femaleness' locus on Chr. 3 (Fem3.1) and a 'type of flower femaleness' (female or bisexual) locus on Chr. 8 (tff8.1). Fem3.1 included the known sex determination gene <mACS11>. Sequence comparison of CmACS11 between parental lines revealed three nonsynonymous SNPs. A CAPS marker developed from one of the SNPs was closely linked to femaleness in two F2 populations with different genetic backgrounds. The femaleness allele was dominant in F1 lines from crosses between UT1 and diverse cultivars and breeding lines. This study suggests that the identity of tff8.1 is CmCPR5, a recently reported bisexual flower control gene. We found that the Japanese weedy melon UT1 does not follow the conventional sex expression model because of the interaction of the loci Fem3.1 and tff8.1 with the previously reported sex determination genes. The results of this study provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in melons and considerations for the application of femaleness in melon breeding.

Plant bostimulant application have proven to improve field productivity to meet genetic potential. Protein hydrolisates has been utilized as plant biostimulant to increase crops productiviy and yield. Protein hydrolysate from organic waste or by product is highly potential for plant biostimulant, since it is efficiently turn the waste into high value product.. Trash fish meal (TI) and chicken feather meal (TB) have high protein content and are potential as plant biostimulant. Application of protein hydrolisates as biostimulant has been acclaimed to improve plant growth. The aim of this study wasto evaluate the activity of protein hydrolysates from TB and TI on germination and early growth of mung bean. Hydrolysis was conducted under high temperature and pressure in acid condition. Application of protein hydrolysates under various concentrations: 5, 10, and 20 ppm. The effect of protein hydrolysates were evaluated on seed germination and root and colleoptile fresh weight. Chemical analysis was performed to measure nitrogen content in the materials. The result showed that germination at 10 ppm after 7 hours incubation of protein hydrolysate from TI and TB. Under TI hydrolysate germination was increase by 191.7%, from 21.7% blank solution to 63.3% of treatment. While under protein hydrolysate from TB increased by 99.5%, from 21.7% of blank solution to 43.3%. Activity of TB hydrolysate toward root and colleoptile growth was higher than in TI hydrolysate. Root growth was higher than colleoptile under all treatments. Protein hydrolysates of TI and TB could improve germination and early growth of mung bean and is highly potential as plant biostimulant.[Keywords: plant biostimulant, protein hydrolysis, plant growth, Vigna radiata]AbstrakAplikasi biostimulan tanaman terbukti mampu meningkatkan produktivitas riil di lapang sehingga mendekati potensi genetik tanaman. Hidrolisat protein telah dimanfaatkan sebagai biostimulan tanaman untuk meningkatkan produktivitas dan hasil panen berbagai tanaman. Hidrolisat protein dari limbah atau produk samping sangat potensial dikembangkan sebagai biostimulan tanaman karena mampu secara efisien mengubah sampah menjadi produk berharga. Tepung ikan rucah (TI) dan tepung bulu ayam (TB) adalah produk samping usaha perikanan dan peternakan dengan kandungan protein tinggi yang sangat potensial dikembangkan menjadi biostimulan untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan tanaman. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui aktivitas hidrolisat protein dari TI dan TB terhadap perkecambahan dan pertumbuhan awal kacang hijau. Hidrolisis dilakukan pada suhu dan tekanan tinggi dalam kondisi asam. Hidrolisat yang diperoleh selanjutnya diaplikasikan pada benih kacang hijau pada konsentrasi 5, 10, dan 20 ppm. Parameter yang diamati berupa persentase perkecambahan dan pertumbuhan akar dan koleoptil semai. Analisis kimia dilakukan untuk memberikan data pendukung berupa kadar nitrogen pada kedua bahan baku. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan terjadinya peningkatan aktivitas perkecambahan kacang hijau pada inkubasi selama 7 jam dalam larutan 10 ppm hidrolisat TI dan TB. Kenaikan persentase perkecambahan pada hidrolisat TI sebesar 191,7%, yaitu dari 21,7% pada blanko menjadi 63,3% pada perlakuan. Sementara dalamhidrolisatTBpeningkatan aktivitas mencapai 99,5%, yaitu dari 21,7% pada blankomenjadi 43,3% pada perlakuan. Pertumbuhan akar dan koleoptil dengan aplikasi hidrolisat TB lebih tinggi dibandingkan pada aplikasi hidrolisat TI. Pengaruh hidrolisat protein lebih tinggi pada pertumbuhan akar dibandingkan koleoptil. Hidrolisat TI dan TB mampu meningkatkan perkecambahan dan pertumbuhan awal kacang hijau dan sangat potensial dikembangkan sebagai biostimulan tanaman. [Kata kunci:biostimulan tanaman, hidrolisisprotein, pertumbuhan tanaman,Vigna radiata]

The waste of household cooking oil is thrown away so that it causes environmental problems. Therefore, this problem must be responded to immediately, for example by processing household waste cooking oil into environmentally friendly biodiesel as an alternative method to address this problem. This study aims to make biodiesel from household waste cooking oil to eliminate or reduce levels of free fatty acids (ALB) contained in used cooking oil catalyst, namely Zeolite Bayah catalyst, while the temperature and reaction time is a fixed variable esterification reaction. The methods of this study are activated zeolite as a catalyst and mixed it with waste cooking oil. The results of this study indicate that the processing of used cooking oil using Zeolite Bayah catalyst can reduce the free fatty acid content contained in used cooking oil, and the physical characteristics of biodiesel generally meet the SNI-04-7182-2012 standard. So that it can be seen that the Zeolite Bayah catalyst influenced the process of reducing free fatty acids in used cooking oil, it can be concluded that some of the parameters are already included in the national standard 04-7182-2012, and it can be seen that the Zeolite Bayah catalyst density parameters obtained the results of 871, the density of NaOH catalysts obtained 862, while from the national standard 04-7182-2012, it was set at 850-890. Both of these results have met the standard for the quality of making biodiesel.