Impacts of Herbicide Exposure on Seminal Parameters among Oil Palm Plantation Workers in Lampung Province, Indonesia

Abstract

It is a cross-sectional study to evaluate semen quality of plantation workers that due their daily obligation make them susceptible to herbicide exposures. The research participants were male workers of oil palm plantations in the District of Lampung Tengah, Lampung Province, Indonesia. They were those who meet the criteria of having more than one year work experience with herbicide, married and having children. Semen samples were taken by asking the participants to masturbate after they were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse for 4-5 days. Semen quality parameters that examined are volume, pH, sperm count, sperm motility, normal morphology and HOS-test. Based on years of the work periods, there were three groups of participants obtained. Group-1 are the participants who worked less than 10 years; group-2 are those who have work periods of 10-20 years; while group-3 are those who have worked more than 20 years. All of the semen quality parameters, except pH, decreased significantly with the increase in work periods far beyond the maximum decrease in normal elderly male. In conclusion, the daily tasks of oil palm plantation workers which prompt them expose to herbicide, suspected to be the cause of the decrease in semen quality parameters.