Effects of Composts and NPK Fertilizer on the Performance of Maize Plant in Crude Oil Polluted Soils
Keywords:
Crude oil, Soil pollution, Remediation, Composts, Heavy metalsAbstract
Crude oil polluted soil in most cases do not yield good harvest for farmers. However, considering the growing need for food and other agricultural products, it is imperative to explore ways of utilizing the available farm land at our disposal. Hence, this experiment is set to evaluate the effects of composts and NPK fertilizer on the performance of maize plant in crude oil polluted soils. The site for this experiment was polluted with crude oil from the area. The polluted soils were later treated after two weeks with different composts composition (PW + SD + CR), (MW + SD + CR), (CD + SD + CR) and fertilizer and left for two weeks before maize were planted on the soils. Germination started very fast from the soil supplemented with fertilizer but growth related parameters plant height, stem girth, leaf area and number of leaves were noticed more in maize plants from soil treated with (PW + SD + CR). The order of performance and improvement by the treatments was as follows: (PW + SD + CR) > (CD + SD + CR) > (MW + CR + SD) > (Fertilizer) except in number of leaves. The performance of maize 5 WAP reflected that the toxicity of the crude oil had reduced and that the crude oil has being degraded with the residual crude oil added more organic matter to the soil and growth of the plants. The growth parameters of the maize were recorded and later harvested ten weeks after planting and theirtissues analyzed for heavy metals possibly assimilated through developmental stages. Analysis of the plant tissues does not reflect any uptake of heavy metals in the soil by the maize plants. This study conclusively revealed that the adverse effect of crude oil can be cured using organic compost than the inorganic fertilizer that may have toxic and adverse effects on crops.
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