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Journal of Agriculture and Biological Sciences Vol. 2(4) pp. 094-098, July 2011.
Available online http://www.globalresearchjournals.org/journal/?a=journal&id=jabs
Copyright ©2011 Global Research Journals.
Case Study
Accumulation of Pollutants in an Ultisol amended with burnt and unburnt rice miled wastes.
*C.N. Mbah , F.I.Idike and C. Njoku
Department of Soil Science and Environmental management. Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki- Nigeria
Corresponding author E-mail: cnmbah10@yahoo.com, Tel: 08054893478
Accepted 2nd April 2011
| Abstract |
An experiment was conducted in 2008 and 2009 cropping seasons and a residual trail in 2010 cropping season to evaluate the effects of two rates (10 t ha-1 and 20 t ha-1) each of burnt, unburnt and mixtures of burnt + unburnt rice mill wastes on content of heavy metals (cu,zn,pb), So42-, No3-, exchangeable sodium percent (EPP%), exchangeable potassium percent (EPP%) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) of an ultisol in south eastern Nigeria. A control (C) was also included. Results of the study showed significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher values zn, cu, pb, SO42-, NO3- and lower values of SAR, EPP% and ESP% in waste amended plots relative to the control in the three cropping seasons. Increasing the rates of the amendments was observed to increase SO42-, NO3- and heavy metal (zn,cu,pb) content but lowers SAR, EPP% and ESP% values .Observed values of zn,cu, pb, SO42-, NO3-, EPP%, ESP% and SAR in waste amended plots in the three cropping seasons were within acceptable limits in soil. Unburnt and burnt rice mill waste at the rates studied did not constitute pollution problem when used as soil amendment.
Keywords: pollution problem, amendments, acceptable limits, cropping seasons, rice mill waste