Early Growth Response of Maize (Zea mays L.) in Spent Lubricating Oil-polluted Soil
*1J. Kayode and 1,2A. A. Oyedeji
1Department of Plant Science, University of Ado-Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
E-mail: jokayode@ymail.com
2Department of Biological Sciences, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
*Corresponding Author: email: ayodele.oyedeji@yahoo.com
Accepted on May 15, 2012
Abstract
The study investigated the early growth response of maize in spent lubricating oil-polluted soil in the Screen House of the University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria to determine the effect of the indiscriminate disposal of spent lubricating oil on the crops and agricultural soils. Sandy-loamy top soil collected from a 4-year old fallowed plot in the University Farm within a depth of 5cm were packed in plastic planting pots, polluted with 500ml spent lubricating oil and maize seeds were planted on the oil-contaminated soil at varying times of one week interval. Results obtained revealed that 100% emergence was observed in the control experiment at 5DAP whereas the average emergence observed were 37.6%, 38.4%, 40.5%, 76.4% and 91.4% respectively in the maize planted in spent oil-polluted soils at first, second, third, fourth and fifth week after pollution respectively. It was observed from this study that spent lubricating oil-polluted soil at high concentrations, inhibited seed germination, seedling heights and girths, shoots and roots biomass of maize. In some of the seedlings in the polluted soils, the leaves were observed to be yellow in colour, some of the leaves were aborted while in some seedlings, complete shed off of leaves and stunted growths were observed. It is evident from this study that the release of spent lubricating oil into agricultural soils interferes with the growth of maize and thus reduced its yields. It is therefore necessary to cob this menace of indiscriminate disposal of spent lubricating oil into our environment most importantly, our agricultural soils.