Microplastics are contaminants in the form of tiny plastic fragments diluted in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Recently, these contaminants have become a concern due to their negative impact on the quality of life of living things. The isolation and examination of microplastic degrading microorganisms' ability from two large mature landfills were conducted. Therefore, this study aims to obtain bacteria and fungi as bioremediation agents that can degrade microplastics. The isolation process was conducted by direct and indirect (enriched) methods. Nutrient agar and potato dextrose agar media were used either in the form of a full or a tenth of a recipe with the addition of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene microplastics. Furthermore, indirect isolation used mineral media treated with the same microplastics. Colony morphology was observed to be the difference among isolates. The isolates were selected based on their ability to produce lipase in butter agar, and their ability to use microplastic as the only carbon source was examined. A total of 211 isolates were obtained, consisting of 74 bacteria and 137 fungi. One-third of the total isolates produced lipase. A bacterial isolate with the highest lipase index identified based on the 16S rRNA gene showed that it was Bacillus paramycoides. The isolate used all three types of microplastics, with the highest ability in polystyrene, which was degraded up to 11.12% in 42 days. In conclusion, microorganisms isolated from the landfill leachate have potential as bioremediation agents that degrade microplastics. Keywords: Bacillus, Bacillus paramycoides, Biodegradation, Bioremediation, Landfill, Leachate, Microplastics, Polystyrene

An experiment to induction shoots and rooting of the shoot of yellow bamboo Bambusa vulgaris have been carried out. Single nodal segments with axillary buds were the starting material. After sterilization, nodal segments were directly inoculated on modified Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium, supplemented with cytokinin Benzylaminopurine (BAP) with various concentration (0,0 ppm, 0,5 ppm, 1,0 ppm and 2,0 ppm) and auxin Indole butyric acid (IBA) with various concentration (0,0 ppm, 2,5 ppm, and 5,0 ppm). The results of the experiment showed the combination BAP 1,0 ppm and IBA 2,5 ppm has effectively induced shoot multiplication. Meanwhile, the used BAP 2,0 ppm and IBA 2,5 ppm resulted in the best shoot elongation. On the other hand, rooting of the shoots in vitro have not been successful yet.

Patchouli oil is a type of essential oil that is very popular all over the world because it is rich in benefits and has high economic value as well. The quality of it must be maintained and strictly controlled to prevent counterfeiting. In this study, the patchouli oil sample used was Aceh patchouli oil of the Tapak Tuan variety, Indonesia. The patchouli oil was redistilled and crystallized to obtain 5 varying levels of patchouli alcohol. This study aims to evaluate the application of chemometrics and Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as simple, effective and economical methods to assess the quality of patchouli oil and patchouli crystals. FTIR data from the 5 samples were subjected to multivariate analysis consisting of Hierarchical cluster Analysis (HCA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). HCA, PCA and LDA managed to distribute the tested samples into informative groups. The results of the HCA analysis showed the pattern of sample classification based on patchouli oil concentration, the results of the PCA analysis showed that the PCA plot scores were quite adequate in distinguishing patchouli oil concentrations. The results of the LDA analysis showed the authenticity of the patchouli oil spectrum based on the results of PCA analysis. From the cross-validation accomplished, this method was successful in predicting accurately the concentration of patchouli oil samples. The results of the analysis concluded that the combination of the FTIR-Chemometric method is a fast, easy, accurate and inexpensive method. In addition, this analysis can be executed without damaging the sample.