ABSTRACT

A study of the effect of different concentrations of brewery effluent on the growth on pistia stratiotes was carried out for 15 days. it was observed that there was a general inhibition of growth throughput the experiment with increasing effluent concertation. Water pollution is a serious problem globally, involving the discharge of dissolved or suspended substances into ground water, streams, rivers and oceans. The effect of brewery effluent on water lettuce (chlorophyll content, root length, biomass, and leaf number). Water lettuce (Pistia stra-tiotes) was collected from Ovia River. This floating aquatic macrophyte were carefully collected from the surface of the water. The brewery effluent sample was collected at the outlet of the factory, using kegs (25L) and was analyzed for pH, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, salinity, specific gravity, oxygen-reduction potential, and temperature. Data were subjected to one- way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and differences between samples were determined by Duncan multiple range test. *P<0.05 indicate significant difference between compared data. The chlorophyll content of plant treated with 0% brewery effluent concentration had the highest value. This result indicates that brewery effluent does not stimulates the synthesis of chlorophyll, and the synthesis is accelerated when there is no concentration of the effluent. The brewery effluent affects leaf number production of Pistia stratiotes plant significantly. In conclusion, this study shows that brewery effluent has an adverse effect on water lettuce which means water lettuce growth in an effluent area will be limited. Water lettuce needs fresh water for it to grow properly.