Tagetes patula (marigold) and Petunia grandiflora (petunia) have been shown to exhibit potential in phytoremediation of environmental pollutants including heavy metals and textile dyes. To investigate their phytoremediation potential of diesel, it was necessary to evaluate diesel phytotoxicity of these two ornamental plants. Marigold and petunia seeds were incubated, for 10 and 15 days, respectively, in deionised water contaminated with 0 to 4%, v/v, diesel in Petri dishes in a growth room with continuous lighting at 25 °C. It was found that as far as seed germination was concerned, petunia was less sensitive than marigold to 4% diesel in water. In contrast, petunia exhibited poorer seedling root growth than marigold in the presence of diesel contamination. This finding of differential sensitivity of these two ornamental plants to diesel-contaminated water during germination and seedling growth has not been reported before. Therefore, the implications of phytotoxicity evaluation and comparison between different species or genotypes of plants at both seed germination and postgermination seedling growth should both be taken into consideration in screening tolerant plants for phytoremediation.
In Nigeria, agro by-products have not been fully utilized by many and often discarded at the dumping site. This anthropogenic activity is contributing to an increase in pollution and is a threat to public health. Environmental sustainability requires the wise use of resources that include agro by-products. Therefore, there is a need to utilize the agro by-product for the production of enzymes such as α-amylase. α -amylase is one of the important extracellular enzymes with several uses. The development of suitable technology to produce enzymes at a very lower cost is significant. The solid-state fermentation (SSF) process using corn and wheat wastes as a substrate have been utilized. In this study, Aspergillus niger from abattoir effluent was identified, isolated and used for the production of an enzyme (α-amylase). The study evaluated the effect of temperature, pH and incubation period on the activities of α-amylase produced by Aspergillus niger. The activity of α-amylase was found to be higher at pH 6.5 and temperature above 50oC. At 4 days incubation of the solid-state fermentation of corn and wheat wastes, α-amylase activities produced were 90.61 Unit/mL and 87.34 Unit/mL respectively. Also in this study, 3-dimensional presentation of the pH, temperature and incubation time were evaluated. The result presented an optimal condition for amylase activity produced by Aspergillus niger.
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are natural hormones found in plant or their synthetic hormone analogues. Auxin, a type of PGRs that consist of low molecular weight organic phytohormones which influences cell division, plant growth and development. One of the common auxin types is indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and was the first plant growth regulator to be discovered with characteristics that involved in the control of various plant growth and development.Auxins can be absorbed in tissues and transport to long distances throughout vascular tissueof a plant. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence ofIAA on the treated seeds of cowpea (VignaunguiculataL.Walp) accession TVu-7, TVu-9 and TVu-1945to 50 % seed germination, seedling growth and development, and leaf chlorophyll content.The various IAA concentration used were 0mg/L, 250mg/L, 500mg/L 750mg/L and 1000mg/L. The results of this study showed the relative effect of various concentrations of IAA on seed germination, vegetative structure produced and leaf chlorophyll content. For example, increased IAA concentrations of 1000mg/L further extend the number of days to attend 50 % seed germination in the different cowpea accessions. Also, an increased concentration to 1000mg/L significantly increased the leaf chlorophyll content in the different cowpea accessions.
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