Abstract
A screen house study was conducted to evaluate the effect of gemstone mining on the growth behaviour of maize Zea mays L. A completely randomized design involving two samples of soil (FUTA (control) and Ijero (mined soil)), two varieties of the maize (TMZ234 and Sammarz 39) was used. The seeds were sown into experimental pots containing the soils and the whole set up was left for eight weeks. Growth parameters (plant height, leaf area and stem girth were taken at a weekly basis up till the eight week. Eight heavy metal (Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Ar, Zn, Pb and Ni) concentration in the soils, roots and shoots of the plants was determined at the end of the experiment using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Baseline data indicates that the mined soil is acidic (pH 4.12), with low organic carbon (0.92), low organic matter (1.59) and low total nitrogen (0.76). Results obtained from this study show that all growth parameters were negatively affected by the mined soil. Plant height was significantly higher in the control varieties (82.28 and 40.46, respectively) when compared with the mined soil varieties (30.5 and 29, respectively) at 8 weeks after planting (WAP). Leaf area also followed the same pattern with varieties grown on control soil having significantly higher leaf area (48.22 and 25.22, respectively) than varieties grown on mined soil (19.08 and 19, respectively). Stem girth of variety TMZ234 in control soil was also significantly higher than the rest (2.24 as against 1.68, 1.5 and 1.74). Heavy metals concentration in the soil, shoot and root of the plants grown in mined soils were all higher than in those grown on control soils. In the soil, Cr, Ni and Pb were 0.24, 0.15, 0.10 and 0.20, 0.13, 0.10, respectively, in both varieties grown on mined soils as against 0.03, 0.01, 0.00 and 0.03, 0.08, 0.00 for Cr, Ni and Pb, respectively, for both varieties grown on control soils. Bioaccumulation and translocation factors for the metals were less than 1 in all the soils except for Ni which had BCF of 2.80 and 6.90 for both varieties grown in the control soils. The results from this study has shown the negative effect of gemstone mining activities on the growth of two varieties of Zea mays.
Highlights
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, mining is the activity of removing solid valuables from the earth
This study aims to determine the growth performance and heavy metal accumulation in two varieties of maize Zea mays L. sown on a soil obtained from a gemstone mining site
The results of the baseline physico-chemical properties of the mined and control soil are in agreement with studies of Eludoyin et al (2017) and Oladipo et al (2014). pH of the mined soil was observed to be more acidic than that of the control
Summary
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, mining is the activity of removing solid valuables from the earth. Mining is an important economic activity and it has the potential of contributing positively to the economic development of any nation (Yeboah, 2008). According to the World Mining Data (Reichl et al, 2015), about 17 million metric tonnes of minerals excluding construction minerals was produced in 2012. In Africa, about 1 million tonnes of minerals was produced in the year 2013 with the exception of construction minerals (Reichl et al, 2015). To underscore the economic importance of the mining industry, it was estimated that 5,433,759 billion dollar worth of minerals was mined in the year 2013 (diamonds was excluded) in the world with Nigeria accounting for about 193,660 million dollars of that (Reichl et al, 2015)
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