Abstract
Oxygen diffusion into the soil ecosystem is imperative for the sustainability of life in the soil. This study evaluated selected microbial exudates as indices of soil respiration in a crude oil polluted soil ecosystem ex-situ using biochemical and physicochemical tools to determine the following parameters; total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), dehydrogenases, catalase, ATP, and pH. The result of the study at 1.5 – 3.5% contamination across days-zero to -28 following crude oil impact presented an augmented increase in TPH from 0.02 ± 0.00 to 0.10 ± 0.00 with an increase in the activity of soil dehydrogenases from 4.90 ± 0.01 to 8.80 ± 0.04 katal which was significant (p0.05). Conversely, the activity of soil catalase suffered inhibition from 0.20 ± 0.00 to 0.11 ± 0.00 katal. ATP synthesis decreased from control to 0.24 ± 0.00mg/100g on week one and increased to 0.60 ± 0.10mg/100mg significantly (p0.05) on week four with contamination as the pH was reduced from 5.8 ± 0.00 to 4.1 ± 0.00 significantly, thus creating hypoxia and a reducing environment, a demonstration of soil respiration.
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