African Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 2(11), pp. 569-573, November, 2007

ISSN 1991- 637X­© 2007 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Influence of nitrogenous fertilizer plant effluents on growth of selected farm crops in soils polluted with crude petroleum hydrocarbons

A. Adoki¹ and Token Orugbani²

¹Health Safety and Environment, Shell Petroleum Development Co. Ltd, P.O. Box 263, Old Aba Road, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

²Rivers State University of Science and Technology, P.M.B. 5080, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: akuro.adoki@shell.com

Accepted 22 November, 2007

Nitrogenous fertilizer (NPK) plant effluents from NAFCON were used in amending plots of land experimentally polluted with crude oil. Results obtained showed that NPK served as a good soil for the natural removal of contaminating crude from soils. Crude oil disappearance in untreated plots ranged between 8.70 and 34.80% and 20.90 and 60.50% for treated plots; cumulative loss was 73.0%. The disappearance was influenced by the N/P ratio in the supplementing fertilizer effluent. Crops grown on the experimental plots at the end of the study period indicated good soil recovery. The study revealed that fertilizer factory effluents, a cheap source of NPK can be applied to petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils in a controlled manner to improve crop germination recovery on such soils.

Key words: Nitrogenous, fertilizer, effluents, farm, crops, pollution, petroleum.