EFFORT TO GET SAFE RICE FOR CONSUMPTION THROUGH BIOREMEDIATION TECHNOLOGY IN PADDY FIELD CONTAMINATED BY LEAD

Abstract

Textile industry that has less optimal waste management due to the absence of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) tends to dispose the waste directly into the water or river. Most farmers near industrial area use liquid waste for irrigation water. This generates negative impacts of complicated problems in the agricultural sector, especially heavy metals contamination in paddy soils. In such case, bioremediation can be done to handle the contaminated soils by heavy metals to create a healthy farming environment. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the chelating agents (Agrobacterium sp. I37 or compost) to the characteristic of soil and the level of Pb in rice plant. This study was conducted between June - September 2017 in Tasikmadu, Karanganyar, Indonesia. The experimental design was factorial using randomized completely block design (RCBD) as the based design. There are two factors in this research: a) inorganic fertilizer (P): without inorganic fertilizer (P0) with inorganic fertilizer (P1); b) chelator (B): without chelator (B0), with chelator Agrobacterium sp I37 (B1), with chelator compost (B2). There were six treatment combinations then replicated 3 times for each treatment, so there were 18 unit treatments. The results showed that Agrobacterium sp. I37 or compost can decrease soil Pb. The best treatment in decreasing soil Pb was treatment using Agrobacterium sp. I37, which soil Pb decreased of 42.91% from 8.04 mg/kgto 4.59 mg/kg; could enhance accumulation of Pb in the roots of 69, 63% and decrease Pb levels in rice grains around 55.67% higher than control treatment.