Application of Selected Malaysian Wild Plant Leaves as Potential Control of Cyanobacterial Bloom
Tengku Nadiah Yusof1, Mohd.Rafatullah1*, Norli Ismail1,Zarina Zainuddin1, Japareng Lalung1*
Citation :Tengku Nadiah Yusof,et.al, Application of Selected Malaysian Wild Plant Leaves as Potential Control of Cyanobacterial Bloom International Journal of Research in Environmental Science 2017,3(1) : 10-19
Efficient cyanobacterial bloom management is important because a bloom in a water body may cause problems such as unpleasant odour and taste, and most importantly, toxin production that are potentially fatal to human and animals. Previous researches have shown that various aquatic and terrestrial plants, especially traditional herbs and shrubs, were able to inhibit the growth of cyanobacteria; the most common plant used to control cyanobacterial growth is barley straw. Therefore, if any wild terrestrial leaf can perform the same control, it would provide a low cost and environmental friendly alternative of cyanobacterial management. In this study, 10 g/L of ten different species of terrestrial wild plant leaves leachates from Penang, Malaysia were individually tested for their abilities to inhibit the growth of eight isolated cyanobacteria namely Microcystis sp., Pseudoanabaena sp., Planktothrix sp., Limnothrix sp., Ocsillatoria sp., Synecocystis sp. and two Synechococcus spp. for 15 days. The results showed that most leaves effectively controlled all cyanobacterial growth but at different rates, depending on the species of cyanobacteria and the species of plant leaves used. The outcomes suggest that the wild plant terrestrial leaves released effective anti-cyanobacterial substances, giving new insight to terrestrial leaves as natural biological controls of cyanobacterial bloom.