Journal of Tropical Crop Science Vol. 6 No. 3, October 2019 www.j-tropical-crops.com 174 Intan Annisa Respita, Sandra Arifin Aziz, Ani Kurniawati Correlation of Leaf NPK and Leaf Pigments of Coleus atropurpureus L. Benth during Vegetative and Generative Phases Intan Annisa Respita A) , Sandra Arifin Aziz B) C) , Ani Kurniawati B) A Postgraduate School, IPB University, Bogor, 16680, Indonesia. B Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, IPB University, IPB Darmaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia C Tropical Biopharmaca Research Center, IPB University Corresponding author; email: sandra.a.aziz@gmail.com Abstract Coleus atropurpureus L. Benth is a annual plant that has a distinctive leaf aroma and bitter taste. C. atropurpureus leaves contain phenolic compounds and antioxidants that can capture free radicals; free radicals play an important role in preventing various human diseases. A study was conducted to determine the correlation between leaf position (1 st to 4 th ) at the vegetative and generative phases with leaf pigments, N, P, K, and total flavonoid concentrations. The results showed that leaf chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin, nitrogen, and total flavonoids were higher in the vegetative phase. Therefore, C. atropurpureus is better harvested in the vegetative phase, and the 2 nd leaf position can be used as indicator for N, K, pigments and total flavonoid content. Keywords: herbal plant, Lamiaceae, leaf position, nutrition, vegetative and generative phase Introduction Indonesians are well known to use medicinal plants as a treatment for health problem. One of the medicinal plants that has been widely used is jawer kotok (Coleus atropurpureus L. Benth). Coleus atropurpureus an annual herbaceous plant which can grow up to 100 cm tall (Wiart, 2006). C. atropurpureus grows upright and has branches with square rod shapes and jagged leaf edges (Figure 1). The length of the leaf stalk can reach 7.5 cm with an oval leaf shape 5-10 cm long. Flowers are purplish, white, or bluish on the terminal stalks with a shape like nails arranged 10-20 cm long. The colorful C. atropurpureus leaves make the plants to be used as ornamentals. The colors of the leaves differ with different types and cultivars. According to Osman (2013) Coleus blumei with purplish red and red to dark red leaves contains high phenolic levels, which indicates it is potential as medicinal plant. Figure 1. Coleus atropurpureus in vegetative phase (left), and generative phase (right) The genus of Coleus belongs to Lamiaceae or Labiatae family; many species from this family can be used in traditional medicine. C. atropurpureus leaves are usually used to overcome dermatitis, post partum, abdominal pain, coughing and muscles pains, particularly by people in West Java (Roosita et al., 2008). In addition, its uses to cure bronchitis, asthma, angina, digestive disorders, animal bites (Suva et al., 2016), for dengue fever and malaria drugs in Philippines (Gascon, 2011), for hemorrhoids, antioxidants and anti-tuberculosis (Ahmad and Massi, 2014) have been reported. C. atropurpureus contain saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, polyphenols, quercetin and essential oils (Moektiwardoyo et al., 2011). The compounds which have antioxidant properties can capture free radicals and play an important role in preventing various chronic diseases