Assessment of Quality, Bacterial Population and Diversity, of Irrigation Water in Selected Areas of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

This research was carried out in the cropping season of 2016 to determine the quality, bacterial population, and diversity of irrigation water in selected areas of Minna, Niger state. The treatments comprised four locations where irrigation agriculture is practiced in Minna, namely Bali in Chanchaga, Fadikwe, Mechanic Village in Keterin Gwari, and Soje-A in Kpakungu, where water samples were collected at 3 points from the water sources and mixed together to represent the locations. The treatments were replicated three times and fitted to a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The physical, chemical, and biological properties of the irrigation water were determined according to standard methods. Results showed that bacterial population and diversity were significantly affected by location and that all the physical and chemical properties of the irrigation water were significantly affected by location except for chemical oxygen demand (mg/lL). Fadikwe had the highest bacterial population (2.5×108 CFU/mlL) and was the least diverse. Other locations were equally diverse, with Soje-A having the lowest bacterial population (2.8×107 CFU/mlL). Averagely, the bacterial population found in the irrigation water of Minna may not be biodegrading. _B. subtilis_, which has a higher potential for biodegradation, was unable to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand in this research. Water from Chanchaga was relatively best suitable for irrigation, even though values of some of the physicochemical properties were higher than values recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization standard. Further studies should therefore be carried out to identify the potentials of _B.subtilis _in the bioremediation of Chanchaga water and to investigate the biodegrading potential of _Escherichia coli _due to its negative correlation with total dissolved solids, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and iron content.