Effect of paint effluent on growth components of two varieties of cowpea (<i>Vigna unguiculata<i/>)

Abstract

Effluent from paint production sites contain pollutants that affect the normal growth of plants. In this study two varieties of Vigna unguiculata improved variety (IT99K573-1- ) and local variety (Wake Dan Arba’in) seeds were planted and allowed to grow for 10 weeks using different concentrations of dilution of the effluents from paint production site as means of irrigation namely; 100 % (stock), 75 %, 50 % and 25 % concentrations to ascertain the difference in morphology of the varieties of the cowpea. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant difference (p<0.05) across the varieties in the morphological parameters such that the treatments from the effluents decrease growth parameters as the concentration increases. The study has shown that paint effluent has contrary effects on the morphology of both the varieties of the cowpea treated. It was revealed that low concentrations; 25 % of paint effluent could be well utilized for agricultural crops so as to reduce the lethality of the pollutants. It may be further concluded that the higher concentration of released paint effluent causes various types of inhibitory effects on the plant growth. It is recommended that elemental and nutrient analysis of Paint effluents in Nigeria should be studied to fully understand its applicability in agriculture.