Agricultural productivity in Buru Island, Maluku is threatened by tailings which are generated from formerly gold mine in Botak Mountain in Wamsait Village. Gold that extracted by using mercury was carried out in mining area as well agricultural field. High content of mercury in tailings and agricultural field pose a serious problem of food production and quality; and further endangers human health. The purpose of this research was to determine the contaminant level of mercury in tailing, soil and its accumulation in edible part of some food crops. Soil, tailing and plant samples for Hg testing were taken by purposive method based on mining activities in Waelata, Waeapo and Namlea sub district. Six soil samples had been analyzed for their chemical properties. Total mercury levels in tailings and plants were measured by Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometer. This study showed that agricultural field where tailings were deposited contained Hg above the threshold but agricultural area which is far from hot spot did not. Most edible parts of food crops accumulated mercury more than Indonesian threshold for mercury content in food. This evidence explained that tailings deposited on the surface of agricultural field had an impact on soil quality and crop quality. Tailing accumulated on soil will decreased soil quality since naturally soil fertility in agricultural field in Buru is low.
Soil contains many elements, both macro, micro and metal. Metal elements are generally nonessential. Cobalt (Co) is one of the metallic elements but required in very small amounts for life. At high concentrations of cobalt can cause poisoning. One way to reduce high levels of cobalt in the soil by performing bioremediation plus ameliorant materials. This study consists of two stages. The first stage is the pot scale research with factorial design. The first factor is the bioremediator dose, namely : B0 : Without bioremediator (control), B1 : Bioremediator 20 kg ha -1 , B2 : Bioremediator 50 kg ha -1 and the second factor is the application of ameliorant materials, namely: A0 : No ameliorant (control), A1: Biochar + compost (1: 5), A2 : Biochar + compost (2: 5), A3 : Activated charcoal + compost (1 : 5), A4 : Activated charcoal + compost (2 : 5). The second stage is the four best results from the first stage applied in situ on the lysimeter. The results showed that the treatment of bioremediator with a dose of 20 kg ha -1 and activated charcoal + compost (w: w = 2: 5) was able to reduce Co levels in the soil by 76%. The lowest Co level in rice that is equal to 3.06 mg kg -1 was obtained from the treatment of 50 kg bioremediator ha -1 plus active charcoal + compost ameliorant (1: 5).
Assessment of heavy metals contamination was carried out in agricultural soil in Wanasari, Brebes Regency, Central Java Province. The study purposed to assess the level of metal contamination using statistical analysis, contamination factor (CF), geo-accumulation index (I-geo), and load pollution index (PLI). In this research, a total of 18 topsoil samples were taken and analyzed for the several metal concentrations are Pb, Cd, Cr, Co, and Ni. The concentration of heavy metals in soil samples was in the order of Cr > Ni > Pb > Co > Cd. The I-geo values of Pb, Co, Ni, and Cr indicated uncontaminated soils, while I-geo values for Cd showed level contamination in soil was uncontaminated to moderately contaminated. The values of pollution load index (PLI) indicated that these observed samples in agricultural soils for shallot in Wanasari, Brebes Regency were uncontaminated.
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