Department of Soil Science Faculty of Agriculture University of Lampung Bandar Lampung Indonesia

Email: abdul.kadir@fp.unila.ac.id

The correlation between Cu uptake by several plants and soil Cu extracted by several extractants was evaluated in greenhouse experiments. Heavy-metal contaminated soils from Lampung, the southern part of Sumatra, Indonesia, with different levels of Cu were used. Eight different plants evaluated were amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor), caisim (Brassica chinensis var. Parachinensis), corn (Zea mays L.), land spinach (Ipomoea reptans Poir), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), napier grass (Penissetum purpureum), thorny amaranthus (Amaranthus spinosus L.) and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica). Based on their correlation coefficients (R) and sensitivity (gradient), it was demonstrated that N HNO₃, N HCl, Buffered DTPA pH 7.30, N NH₄OAc pH 7.00, and M CaCl₂ were good for predicting Cu uptake for land spinach and unbuffered DTPA for napier grass. The uptake of Cu by amaranth was best predicted by N NH₄OAc pH 7.00, caisim and water spinach by M CaCl₂, corn, land spinach and thorny amaranthus by N NH₄OAc pH 7.00, and lettuce and napier grass by N HCl.