ASSESSMENT OF THE TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON CONTENT OF AGRICULTURAL SOIL POLLUTED WITH DIFFERENT VOLUME OF CRUDE OIL DURING PLANT- MICROBE INTERACTION

The effectiveness of plants in interaction with indigenous organisms in environmental clean –up was evaluated. The agricultural soil used for the study was polluted with 100ml, 200ml, 400ml and 800ml of Bonny light crude oil [100%]. Pre and post Microbial examination of the polluted soil identified the indigenous flora present in the soil to be Penicillum sp Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Candida sp, Pseudomonas fluorescence, Acinetobacter baumanni, Bacillus mycoides, Klebsiella sp., Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli though the absence of S aureus and E. coli was evident during the latter. Vigna unguiculata var unguiculata, Mucuna pruriens, Zea mays and Telfairia occidentalis were the test plant used. Gas chromatographic (GC) analysis revealed the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) of polluted soil on comparison with the value of 10,380 kg/ mg for control sample, to be low. The high TPH obtained from samples polluted with higher concentration depicts that the numbers of plants to be cultivated for remediation could be a determining factor for a faster clean-up. Statistical analysis using analysis of variance (ANOVA) model of SPSS software however, showed there was no significant difference in the degradation of crude oil in samples that are in the green house or field.