PHYTOREMEDIATION POTENTIAL AND IN-VITRO FERMENTATION CHARACTERISTICS OF Megathrysus maximum AND Ipomoea batatas PLANTED ON PETROLEUM CONTAMINATED SOIL

ABSTRACT

Crude oil pollution is a growing concern in the environmental health sector and the rapid expansion has a lot of effect on both animal and human health. This has necessitated the need for a biotechnology that can clean up the soil without causing adverse effect to the environment. A 16 weeks study was carried out to determine the phytoremediation ability and in vitro nutritive value of Megathrysus maximum and Ipomoea batatas planted on Crude oil contaminated soils. Four treatments, arranged in a completely randomized design were used in this study. Treatment 1 Megathrysus maximum planted in contaminated with 50 g of crude oil, Treatment 2 Megathrysus maximum planted in uncontaminated soil. Treatment 3 Ipomoea batatas planted in soil contaminated with 50 g of crude oil, and Treatment 4 Ipomoea batatas planted in uncontaminated soil. Observations during the course of this study showed that contaminated Megathrysus maximum had minimal growth rate at the first four weeks, while uncontaminated Megathrysus maximum had a better growth rate and overall performance. Contaminated Ipomoea batatas was detected to have stunted growth, wilting of leaves, scanty leaves and yellowing of leaves also death of plants within the first four weeks after planting, while uncontaminated Ipomoea batataswas observed to have a relatively normal growth rate. In vitro parameters obtained showed increased gas production in the contaminated Megathrysus maximum than in the uncontaminated. However for Ipomoea batatas, the uncontaminated produced more gas than the contaminated.  Results revealed that Heavy metals, Pb, Cr and Cd contents of the soil contaminated with crude oil was higher than uncontaminated and the contaminated in-vitro fermentation value for Megathrysus maximum  was higher and significant (P>0.05) from uncontaminated, while for Ipomoea batatas, uncontaminated samples value was higher than contaminated. The chemical composition and cell wall of both samples were determined.  The results clearly demonstrated that Megathrysus maximum and Ipomoea batatas will provide an easy tool for phytoremediation with crude oil.