PENGARUH MEDIA FESES SAPI YANG MENGANDUNG MIKROPLASTIK PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) TERHADAP POPULASI CACING TANAH (Lumbricus rubellus) DAN pH (Potential of Hydrogen) VERMICOMPOSTING

Microplastics in the livestock environment can enter the livestock's body and be excreted through feces, thus affecting plant organisms, including the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus which plays a role in the vermicomposting process. This study aims to determine changes in the population of earthworm Lumbricus rubellus in cow feces media containing PET microplastics and the effect of vermicomposting pH. The research materials were cow feces, 1,740 earthworms of the Lumbricus rubellus species aged 50-60 days and PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) microplastics. This study was conducted using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) experimental method with 4 treatments, namely, P0: No PET microplastics, P1: 0.4 milligrams of PET microplastics, P2: 0.8 milligrams of PET microplastics and P3: 1.2 milligrams of PET microplastics. Each treatment was repeated 3 times. The variables of this study were the population of earthworms and the pH of vermicomposting. Data were analyzed using (ANOVA) and continued with the LSD test if a very significant effect was found. The results showed that the addition of PET microplastics had a very significant effect (P<0.01) on the earthworm population, but had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the pH of vermicomposting. The highest population was at P0 (170.3) and the lowest at P3 (102.7), while P1 (7.89) and P2 (113). Meanwhile, the pH value of vermicomposting did not show a significant effect with relatively alkaline values, namely P0 (7.89), P1 (7.83), P2 (7.88) and P3 (7.86). It was concluded that the higher the dose of PET microplastics had a significant effect on reducing the earthworm population, but the pH of vermicomposting was in the alkaline range and did not show a significant effect.