The Growth Rate of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes (Mart.) Solms) in Rawapening Lake, Central Java
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Journal of Ecological Engineering Journal of Ecological Engineering 2021, 22(6), 222–231 Received: 2021.04.15 https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993/137678 Accepted: 2021.05.15 ISSN 2299–8993, License CC-BY 4.0 Published: 2021.06.01 The Growth Rate of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms) in Rawapening Lake, Central Java Syarif Prasetyo1, Sutrisno Anggoro2, Tri Retnaningsih Soeprobowati3,4* 1 PhD Program of Environmental Studies, School of Postgraduate Studies, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia 2 Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia 3 Departement of Biology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia 4 School of Postgraduate Studies, Universitas Diponegoro, Semarang, Indonesia * Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Rawapening Lake is one of Indonesia’s national priority lakes that is experiencing environmental problems which are urgently required to be solved due to its functions. The decline in the environmental quality of Rawapening Lake includes sedimentation, water pollution and excess of nutrients, especially Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N) into the lake that induced uncontrolled growth of aquatic plants, one of which is water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms). Many activities had been done to reduce the covering of water hyacinth in Rawapening Lake that tends to increase by the time, but no significant result has been achieved. Therefore, this research was conducted in order to study the growth rate of water hyacinth with mesocosm in Rawapening Lake as a baseline to develop suitable management. There were three different sites, namely: Site I in the floating net cage area (FNCA), Rowoboni Village, Site II in the natural area of Bejalen Village which is far from the aquaculture sites, and Site III in the upper reaches of the Tuntang river, Asinan Village. The research was performed in November – December 2019 with the measurements of growth rate, addition number clump and water hyacinth covering every week. The experiment was conducted in the 1 x 1 meter mesocosm, with three replication in every site. In every mesocosm water hyacinth with similar initial weight of 160 grams and number of leaves 6–7 strands were grown in the mesocosm. On day 7 (H7) the average wet weight of water hyacinth increased by 201%. In the fourth week (H28) the average wet weight of water hyacinth increased by 788% compared to the initial weight when planted. The highest relative growth rate (RGR) value of water hyacinth was at site III (7.26%/ day), followed by Site I (7.03%/day), and Site II (6.40%/day), respectively. The doubling time (DT) value of water hyacinth at the site I was 9.9 day, site II – 10.8 day, and site III – 9.6 day. One clump of water hyacinth weighing 160 grams was able to cover 1 m2 of mesocosm within 21 days. On the basis of these results, to man- age water hyacinth blooms one has to consider its growth rate. Keywords: Rawapening, Eichhornia crassipes, mesocosm, Relative Growth Rate, Doubling Time INTRODUCTION In-line with SDGs, The National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) for the period 2020– Global concerns about environmental sus- 2024 is clearly stated in chapter 7, which is to build tainability have become the main focus of the the environment, improve disaster resilience and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which climate change. More specifically focused on the is a new agreement in place after the Millennium maintenance, restoration and conservation of water Development Goals (MDGs) agenda. SDGs are resources and ecosystems through the revitalization joint agreements including Indonesia in global of national priorities, namely 5 Lakes of Manin- development throughout the world for the 2015– jau, Sentarum, Limboto, Sentani and Rawapening 2030 period (UNDP Indonesia, 2015). (Presidential Regulation No. 18, 2020). 222 Journal of Ecological Engineering 2021, 22(6), 222–231 Rawapening is semi-natural lake which is ad- especially tropical waters (Allo et al., 2013; Gai- ministratively located in the Semarang Regency, kwad and Gavande, 2017). The abundance of wa- Central Java Province, it has inundation area ter hyacinth is also a habitat for disease carriers of about 2,667 hectares in the rainy season and such as the mosquito that causes malaria (Hon- shrinks to 1,650 in the dry season (Sudjarwo et lah et al., 2019). Dead hyacinth will settle to the al., 2014). Lake Rawapening is utilized for fish- bottom waters and decompose, which increases eries, agriculture, tourism, social and religious the acceleration of sedimentation in Rawapen- life, as a source for drinking water and hydro- ing Lake. Wind also affects the nutrient dynamics electricity (Soeprobowati, 2017). The produc- in the lake, causing water hyacinth to float into tion of aquaculture fish in the Rawapening area new areas and triggering sediment resuspension is 1,535.9 tons/year. Power plants that utilize which increases the release of nutrients in the lake Rawapening water bodies produced 222,504 mil- (Worqlul et al., 2020). lion KWh. Irrigation around Rawapening Lake The organic materials triggering the blooming technically covers 1,265.09 hectares of rice fields. of hyacinth are, among others, N and P (Goshu et Since 2015, Rawapening Lake has also been used al., 2017). On the content of total N and total P, by the Semarang Regency Regional Water Sup- Rawapening Lake shows the state that is both hy- ply Company to meet the shortage of source for pertrophic (Pratiwi et al., 2018). However, based drinking water (Central Java Governor Regula- on the assessment of the chlorophyll a content of tion No. 5 of 2014 concerning Water Designation the Rawapening Lake waters, it is in an oligotro- and Tuntang River Water Management in Central phic state. Most of the chlorophyll content in wa- Java Province). ters comes from phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is Sustainable lake management is a commit- not able to compete because it is shaded by the ment at the government level to save the lake water hyacinth of Rawapening (Soeprobowati from the environmental damage resulting from and Suedy, 2010). the exploration and exploitation of communities The uncontrolled growth of water hyacinth with an interest in lake waters. The form of com- often causes problems include clogging the drains mitment from the government is the establish- and caused flooding (Kriticos and Brunel, 2016). ment of 15 priority lakes that have experienced Oxygen depletion and decreased water quality critical damage and become an environmental lead to reduced biodiversity and create a breed- problem that must be resolved immediately (So- ing ground for insects vector, increasing the rate eprobowati, 2017). Environmental degradation of of evapotranspiration, which in turn, impacted Rawapening Lake includes sedimentation, pollu- the public health (Kamau et al., 2015; Goshu and tion inorganic waste materials, reduction of wa- Aynalem., 2017; Gupta and Yadav, 2020;). The ter quality and the occurrence of eutrophication. water hyacinth blooming is also often associated This condition is caused by the accumulation of with a decrease in the number of fish because part various pollutants that enter the aquatic environ- of the water surface is covered by water hyacinth ment. The pollutants come from various sources, (Güereña et al., 2015). including urbanization, population growth rates It was reported that in 1994, Rawapening Lake that are in line with domestic waste disposal, and was covered by a variety of aquatic plants which excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides in the consisted of 18.45% water hyacinth, 7.69% Hy- agricultural sector (Haseena et al., 2017; Salam drilla vertisillata, and 15.36% Salvinia sp (Gol- and Salwan, 2017; Ting et al., 2018). Eutrophi- tenboth and Timothy 1994). In 2004, the cover- cation is an enrichment of lake by nutrients, es- ing of water hyacinth was 60–70%. In 2015, the pecially phosphorus (P) and excessive nitrogen amount of water hyacinth weed cover has reached (N) that induced uncontrolled growth of aquatic more than 70% (Soeprobowati et al., 2016). In plants (Grasset et al., 2016; Chander et al., 2018; their research, Hidayati et al. (2018) showed that Sutadian et al., 2018). the area of aquatic plants in 2012 was 775.49 ha, The growth of water hyacinth in Rawapening while in 2016 it increased to 990.53 ha. Therefore, Lake is an important issue to study because its ex- the covering of aquatic plants increased from 46% istence significantly affects the water conditions. to 58%. Currently, the water hyacinth cover has The very fast growth of water hyacinths with rela- returned to more than 70%. This indicates that the tively short life spans greatly affects the ecosys- handling of environmental pollution in Rawapen- tem and is a threat in various parts of the world, ing Lake does not reduce the problematic roots. 223 Journal of Ecological Engineering 2021, 22(6), 222–231 The main factors that reduce the water quality in MATERIALS AND METHODS Rawapening Lake, which triggers the growth of water hyacinth, are phosphate, temperature and Study area carbonate (Soeprobowati et al., 2016). The con- Rawapening is a semi-natural lake which is trol of water hyacinth growth is difficult due to located about 45 kilometers south of Semarang the extremely rapid pace of weed growth and its City and 9 kilometers northwest of Salatiga City ability to deposit the seed scattered by the flood (Figure 1). Rawapening is in the golden triangle (Júnior and Carvalho, 2019). The water hya- between Semarang, Solo and Yogyakarta. The co- cinth seeds have the ability to dormancy for up ordinates are located at 7°04’-7°30’ south latitude to 15 years, a potential ability to reproduce in a and 110°24’46’-110°49’06’’ east longitude, and is sustainable manner (Ojo et al., 2019). at an altitude of 460 meters above sea level.