BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 20, Number 12, December 2019 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 3690-3697 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d201231 Lead (Pb) toxicity effect on physio-anatomy of bead-tree, jatropha, castor bean and Philippine-tung grown in water culture HAMIM 1,♥ , HANIFATUNISA 1 , HADISUNARSO 1 , LULUK SETYANINGSIH 2 , DEDEN SAPRUDIN 3 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Pertanian Bogor. Jl. Agathis, Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia. Tel./Fax. +62-251-8625481,  email: hamim@apps.ipb.ac.id 2 Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Nusa Bangsa. Tanah Sereal, Bogor 16166, West Java, Indonesia 3 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Pertanian Bogor. Jl. Agathis, Kampus IPB Darmaga, Bogor 16680, West Java, Indonesia Manuscript received: 7 November 2019. Revision accepted: 23 November 2019. Abstract. Hamim, Hanifatunisa, Hadisunarso, Setyaningsih L, Saprudin D. 2019. Lead (Pb) toxicity effect on physio-anatomy of bead- tree, jatropha, castor bean and Philippine-tung grown in water culture. Biodiversitas 20: 3690-3697. Heavy metal contamination in both land and water has been intensively studied because of their broad impact for the environment. Bead-tree (Melia azedarach), Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), castor bean (Ricinus communis) and Philippine tung (Reutealis trisperma) are kinds of non-edible oil- producing species, that are able to grow well on degraded lands and may have potential use for phytoremediation of heavy metals contaminated areas. This study aimed to analyze the response of bead-tree (Melia azedarach), jatropha (Jatropha curcas), castor bean (Ricinus communis) and Philippine-tung (Reutealis trisperma) to lead (Pb) contaminant in water culture experiment based on morphological, physiological and anatomical parameters. Two months old plants were transferred to the media containing Hoagland solution. After three weeks of planting, Pb (NO3)2 treatments with five concentrations, i.e. control (0 mM), 0.5 mM, 1 mM, 2 mM, and 3 mM were added together with Hoagland replacement and the plants were treated for three weeks. The growth, anatomical and physiological parameters were observed during the treatment until three weeks. The results showed that Pb treatment, especially with higher concentration, dramatically decreased plant growth, such as plant height, number of leaves, as well as shoot and root dry weight of all the species. Lead treatment triggered the emergence of free radicals and oxidative stress as indicated by a significant increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) content, while it decreased chlorophyll content of all the species. The higher concentration of Pb (NO3)2 caused the thickness of upper epidermis, lower epidermis, and spongy mesophyll tissue to decrease significantly which contributed to the decrease of leaves thickness. Among the species, Philippine-tung was the most tolerant of Pb toxicity. This species is potential to be used in phytoremediation program of lead-contaminated land such as gold mine area as well as heavy industrial areas. Keywords: Lead, Pb, metal toxicity, MDA, non-edible oil-producing plant, leaf anatomy INTRODUCTION Industrial and agricultural developments for urban as well as rural communities have been progressing which no doubt can cause environmental pollution. Among the pollutants, heavy metal contamination in both land and water has been intensively studied because of their broad impact on the environment. Heavy metals especially from non-essential elements such as Pb, Hg, and Cd (Ashraf 2006), may even become more dangerous due to the process of bioaccumulation along the food chains (David et al. 2012). Lead (Pb) is an example of heavy metal pollutant produced from industrial wastes such as gold mine tailings (Hilmi et al. 2018) which cause a decrease in soil quality and adversely affects plants, animals, humans, and ecosystems. The toxic effects of Pb on plants result in a decrease of plant ability to absorb mineral nutrition, lower water balance, inhibition of root growth, blackening of root system and leaves chlorosis (Nas and Ali 2018). Lead (Pb) in the environment is not biodegradable and due to continuous use, its accumulation in the environment is constantly rising with increasing hazards (Nas and Ali 2018). Therefore, fundamental efforts are needed to reduce such environmental pollution that occurs. Environmental pollution due to heavy metals such as lead (Pb) contaminant can be minimized by plants that have hypertensive properties, meaning that they are able to accumulate metals with high concentrations in their roots and shoot tissues, so that these hyperaccumulator plant can be used for phytoremediation purposes. Phytoremediation is a waste cleaning technology considered as innovative, economical, and relatively safe to reduce pollutants, including heavy metals, from the environment (Salt et al. 1995). The basic principle in phytoremediation is using green plants, particularly that have ability to absorb higher amount of pollutant materials to reduce contaminants from soil or water. The advantage of phytoremediation techniques is its ability to produce secondary discharge materials that are less toxic, and more environmentally friendly (Kumar et al. 2013). Some under-utilized biodiesel-producing plants such as jatropha (Jatropha curcas), castor bean (Ricinus communis), bead-tree (Melia azedarach) and Philippine- tung (Reutealis trisperma) may have potential function to be used in phytoremediation process, since these plants are