Pertumbuhan Generatif Benih Lama Tanaman Tomat (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) Di Bawah Pengaruh Lama Pemaparan Medan Magnet 0,2 mT Yang Berbeda

Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) is widely consumed as fresh fruit and used as materials for the food and cosmetics industry so that the demand for tomato in Indonesia increases every year. However, tomato cultivation still faces obstacles including the availability of quality seeds. Farmers do not use old or expired seeds because of the low quality of growth and production. Magnetic field is known to increase metabolism and plant growth quality. In this research, testing to use of a magnetic field of 0.2 mT on vegetatif growth of old tomato seeds. The research was conducted with a completely randomized design (CRD) with five treatments levels, namely for new seeds without exposure to magnetic fields (SnM0, positive control), old seeds without exposure to magnetic fields (SoM0, negative control) and old seeds with exposure to magnetic fields for 7 48 minutes (SoM7), 11 minutes 44 seconds (SoM11) and 15 minutes 36 seconds (SoM15). Each treatment was repeated five times. The parameters measured were plant height, total leaf surface area, dry weight, and chlorophyll content of tomato plants. The data obtained were analyzed by variance followed by Fisher's exact test at α = 5% level. The results obtained showed that the influence of a magnetic field of 0.2 mT did not provide any real difference to vegetative growth but was able to improve and increase the metabolism of old seeds so that plant height, total leaf surface area, dry weight and chlorophyll content of tomato leaves from old seeds also increased. Exposure to a magnetic field of 0.2 mT for 7 minutes 48 seconds provided the best vegetative growth at the 4th week of the height parameters of tomato plants from old seeds. Keyword : magnetic field, seeds, vegetative growth