Multivariate Statistics of Fertility Parameter Fluxes in Cement-Dust-Polluted Soils in Mfamosing, Nigeria: Impact on Agriculture

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of cement-dust pollution on the fertility status of agricultural soils to ascertain their health and suitability for cropping. Relevant soil nutrients and enzyme activities were determined from 12 control soil, 12 NPK-treated polluted soil and 12 un-amended polluted soil samples, using standard soil analytical and biochemical procedures. Soil microbial biomass-carbon was quantified by chloroform-fumigation-extraction (CFE) method. Cultivable aerobic bacterial count was determined on Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) while cultivable fungal quantitation was performed on Czapek-Dox agar. Corn (Zea mays) yield served to evaluate pollutant effect on tested parameters. Principal component analysis (PCA) extracted two components, PC1 and PC2, from nine studied dependent variables (DVs) which explained 68.33% variability about the data. Number and membership of extracted components were confirmed by two clusters obtained by agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis (AHCA). Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed significant effect of soil type on the combined DVs when the effect of the covariate (planting period) was controlled. One-way analysis of covariance (one-way ANCOVA) revealed non-significant effect of planting period but a significant main effect of soil type on corn yield when controlling for the effect of the covariate. Relative to control soil, per cent loss in corn yield was 55.69% in cement dust-polluted soil but reduced to 36.07% in polluted soils treated with NPK. The research findings have shown that cement dust pollution significantly reduced corn yield and the stress may persist in agricultural soils amended with fertilizer.

Comparative Analysis of Determination Methods of Glyphosate Degradation by Trichoderma asperellum Strain JK-28: A Multivariate Statistical Approach

“…Dehydrogenase activity was determined as described by Casida et al [13]. The activity was based on the reduction of the water-soluble 2, 3, 5 triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) substrate to the reddish-colored water-insoluble formazan products whose intensities were measured spectrophotometrically at a wavelength of 485 nm with methanol as blank [14]. The results of the periodic samples were compared with triphenyl formazan standards.…”

Effect of Anionic Polyacrylamide Polymer on Frost Heave Mitigation and Its Implication for Frost-Susceptible Soil

“…Long-term heavy metal mobilisation from cement may result in environmental risks. Moreover, the deposition of cement dust on the soil surface and its penetration into deeper soil layers can also impact soil fertility, and the stress can persist in agricultural soils [19]. Phase change materials (e.g., paraffin) may have a positive impact on reducing temperature variation due to the release of latent heat (during the phase transition from liquid to solid); however, loss in compressive strength is reported [3].…”