Kemampuan Adaptasi Tanaman Mahoni (Swietenia macrophylla) terhadap Cemaran Merkuri pada Tailing Penambangan Emas Skala Kecil (Adaptation Ability of Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) against Mercury Contamination from Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining)

Abstract

Contamination of mercury (Hg) in illegal gold mining waste could be reduced by the plant. The study aimed to examine the adaptability of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) seedling in the growing media of tailings contaminated by mercury. Tailings were taken from the gold refining industry located in Bunut Village, Padang Cermin Sub-district, Lampung Province. The study was designed in a completely randomized design for 5 treatments and 4 replications used combination of topsoil : tailings in a ratio of 100% : 0%; 75% : 25%; 50% : 50%; 25% : 75%; and 0% : 100%. Data were processed by analysis of variance at the 0,05 significance level followed by the Least Significant Difference test. The results showed that mahogany seedling had the adaptability to the media with a maximum tailings concentration of 75%. The higher concentrations of tailings tended to decrease the percentage of life, increment of diameter, increment of the number of leaves, leaf area, the increment of root length, and biomass of mahogany. The higher concentrations of tailings resulted in a better plant height increment compared to the lower concentrations, however, all concentrations of tailings in the planting medium reduced the height of the mahogany seedling. Keywords: Adaptability, mahogany, mercury, tailing