The Center for Research and Development of Agricultural Land Resources (2014) states that the area of acid dry land in Indonesia is around 107,358 million ha with the dominant distribution being outside the island of Java, such as in Kalimantan with an area of 39,094,313 ha (36.42%), Sumatra 30,934,790 ha (28.81%), and Papua 19,353,332 ha (18.03%). The area of sour dry land that has the potential to become agricultural land is approximately 62.64 million ha with suitable availability for annual crops of 7.08 million ha and annual crops of 15.31 million ha. The formation of acid land is not only caused by the nature of the soil being naturally acidic due to a lack of calcium, organic acids due to decomposition of organic matter, high rainfall, soil fractions, or volcanic activity, but can also be caused by acid rain. Acid rain contains sulfuric acid and nitric acid which comes from air pollution, such as emissions from industry, power plants and motor vehicles. In Indonesia, acid rain has occurred in several regions such as Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bandung, Jakarta, and so on. The occurrence of acid rain can be an obstacle to plant growth and make them susceptible to disease, resulting in the quality of the harvest being less than optimal.
Based on these problems, five students from the Faculty of Agriculture consisting of Dhia Salma Alaudi Hafied, Fatahillah Salsa Nur Rizqi, M. Fachri Hibatullah, Sutarni Setyaningsih, and Syifa’ Nur Hani’ah conducted research on the development of tetraploid rice which was tested at several concentrations of acid land stress. This research was supervised by Dr. Budi Waluyo S.P., M.P, lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture who is involved in plant breeding. Financial support for this research was provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Universitas Brawijaya through the Student Creativity Program funding scheme in the field of research and science.
The widespread formation of tetraploid rice can increase plant vigor so that it is able to adapt to environmental changes. Polyploidy induction is one way to obtain genetic sources with high yields by administering chemical mutagens such as colchicine. Doubling the number of cells due to polyploidization can increase plant resistance because increasing the number of chromosomes will support increased plant organ functions. The acid treatment is carried out as a simulation in an acid environment, so it is hoped that it can produce rice genes that are tolerant to acid stress as superior varieties for better quality and production results compared to diploid rice.
Exploratory research on local tetraploid rice was carried out using 7 rice genotypes including the local Jombang variety, local Malang Gundil Wesi, Malang local Genjah Rawe, local Toraja Black Long Rice, Toraja local Short Rice Metik Pare, Inpari 32, and Inpago 12. Seeds from Each variety that has germinated is given tetraploid induction treatment with colchicine through intermittent soaking (6 hours soaking – 6 hours draining) 2-3 times. After a change in the volume of the sprouts is found, the seeds are transferred to a petri dish with cotton/tissue as a seeding medium until the end of germination and then moved the seedlings to a plastic container until at least 3 leaves appear. Acid treatment is carried out through advanced planting media in the form of soil treated with acid solutions with different concentrations. The method used is the Divided Plot Design. Observations were made on the morphological and stomata characters of rice plants, then tested using ANOVA with a level of 5% to see significant differences between treatment groups as well as further BNT tests and multivariate analysis
It is hoped that this research can make a positive contribution to increasing the genetic diversity of local rice varieties as well as varieties that are more resistant to acidic land conditions. Rice that is resistant to acid land stress allows farmers to utilize land that was previously unproductive, thereby supporting agricultural sustainability. Able to increase rice production thereby supporting national food security. This research also encourages new innovations in the agricultural sector, especially in plant breeding. (*/UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
