J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 2(6)210-215, 2012 © 2012, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4274 Journal of Applied Environmental and Biological Sciences www.textroad.com *Corresponding Author: W.H. Utomo, International Research Centre for Management of Degraded and Mine Land, Resistance of Yellow Velvetleaf (Limnocharis flava (L.) Buch.) Exposed to Lead F. Rachmadiarti 1 , L. A. Soehono 2 , W.H. Utomo 3* , B. Yanuwiyadi 2 , H. Fallowfield 4 1 Faculty of Mathematic and Science, State University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia 2 Faculty of Mathematic and Science, University of Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia 3 International Research Centre for Management of Degraded and Mine Land, University of Brawijaya; Malang, Indonesia 4 School of Environment, Faculty of Health and Science, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia ABSTRACT The potential use of yellow velvetleaf (Limnocharis flava (L.) Buch) for remediation of lead (Pb) polluted water was studied in Green house experiment. The study was also investigated the distribution of lead in plant tissue. Plants of equal size was grown hydroponically and exposed to 0, 1, 5, 10 mgL -1 of Pb concentration for 10 days, 20 days, and 30 days. As a comparison, water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was grown in the same growth media. The results show that, although not as good as water spinach, yellow velvet leaf could grow well in Pb polluted water. The bioaccumulation factor of both plants were >1 with the translocation factor < 1 indicated that both plants are tolerant to Pb metals The highest accumulation of Pb found in root tissue, and then followed by stem and leave tissue. The concentration of Pb in leaves tissues found in yellow velvetleaf and water spinach exposed to 10 mg L -1 Pb were 1.30 and 1.90 mg kg -1 which is higher than the criteria given by FAO and WHO (5 mg kg -1 ). Therefore, this fact should be considered if there is any attempt to use water spinach grown in Pb polluted growth media for human consumption or anaimal feeds. Keywords: lead, Phytoremediation, water pollution, waste water, bioaccumulation, translocation factor INTRODUCTION Surabaya River is one of the main sources for providing water requirement of Surabaya communities, the second biggest city in Indonesia. In addition for domestic used, Surabaya River is also a source of irrigation water for rice and vegetable crops. Lately, with increasing industrial and domestic waste discharged to this river. Rachmadiarti et.al. [1] observed that its water had contaminated by some heavy metals, including lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) with concentration of 0.01 mg L -1 and 0.01 mg L -1 respectively.).This is far higher compared to the safe water quality standard given by WHO [2]. The contribution of domestic was to high Mercury (Hg), Cromium (Cr) and Pb in Surabaya river has also been notified by Arisandi [3][4]. In addition, Rachmadiarti et al. (1) found that there were abundance of Yellow Velvetleaf (Lymnocharis flava) grow at Gayungan and Sepanjang wetland area which received irrigation water from Surabaya River. This yellow velvetleaf is commonly used for vegetable of the surrounding community. In fact this yellow velvetleaf ha concentrations of > 0.05 mg Pb kg -1 , this is exceeded the food quality standard given by WHO [2]. Park et al. [5] noted that the existence of arsenic and heavy metals in water caused negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems and biota growing in such habitats. It has been widely known that some heavy metals are toxic substances for animal, and hence for human life through food chain [2]. Duruibe [6] noted that Pb cause teratogenic effect. Pb toxicity also inhibits the hemoglobin synthesis; causes kidney malfunction; influence reproductive systems and cardiovascular system; and causes acute and chronic damage to the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system [7]. Reduce of heavy metals concentration in Surabaya River, therefore, is a compulsory. A lot of methodologies have been developed to clean the pollutant from water, but, it seems that the cheapest and easiest method to do this is by the use of plant. This method, which is known as “Phytoremediation” has been used widely, to remediate either contaminated soils or polluted water [8]. The success of phytoremediation depends on growth rate and the ability of the plant to uptake the metals from the growth medium [8]. Plants must produce sufficient biomass and able to accumulate high concentration of heavy metals in their tissue. Gothberg et al. [9] reported that water spinach could accumulate Cd in high concentration without any negative effect on their growth. Gothberg et al. [10] also demonstrated the ability of Ipomoea aquatica Forsk to decrease Pb concentration in polluted water. Abhilash et al. [11] used yellow velvetleaf for phytofiltration of Cd polluted in water. The experiment reported here was aimed to explore the potential of yellow velvetleaf for remediation of Pb polluted water. To do this, first the experiment was done to study the resistance of yellow velvetleaf in lead polluted water. The growth of yellow velvetleaf was compared to that of water spinach, which has been known as tolerance to high metal concentration. Then, since water spinach and yellow velvetleaf are also used for