The consumption of maize and cowpea in Africa and developing countries is high,owing to the fact that they are readily available,coupled the with nutritional benefits they provide.Growth loss has been seen in crops cu...The consumption of maize and cowpea in Africa and developing countries is high,owing to the fact that they are readily available,coupled the with nutritional benefits they provide.Growth loss has been seen in crops cultivated on heavy metal polluted soils as a consequence of alterations in physiological and biochemical processes.This study was aimed at assessing the growth indices of seeds(maize and cowpea)grown on heavy metal contaminated soil treated with ginger extracts.The study adopted a Complete Randomized Design(CRD)in which growth indices of either maize or cowpea were examined from each crop type grown on soil without any pollutant or treatment and soils with metal pollutants;with or without treatment with ginger extracts in the individual experiments.Data were analyzed using ANOVA.The results showed that ginger extract induced oxidative stress on cowpea after 10 days of cultivation with root length significantly(P≤0.05)higher on the normal control-G-M and+L-G which recorded 7.60 and 7.3 cm respectively.Patterns of growth indices noticed after 30 and 40 days of cowpea cultivation were variable showing least growth in leaf development.Highest maize root(27.00 cm),shoot(8.85 cm)and leaf(25.25 cm)development were recorded in maize grown on soil without metal contamination but treated with ginger(+G-M-positive control)after days 10,40 and 40 after cultivation.It was observed that the soil contaminated with heavy metals affected the growth pattern of the crops thereby causing stunted growth,chlorosis,discoloration and wilting.It could be concluded that cowpea performed better in shoot of both treated and untreated soils even though the values were not significantly different from that of root and leaf while maize showed a decrease in shoot even though the values for root and leaf were not significantly different.展开更多
文摘The consumption of maize and cowpea in Africa and developing countries is high,owing to the fact that they are readily available,coupled the with nutritional benefits they provide.Growth loss has been seen in crops cultivated on heavy metal polluted soils as a consequence of alterations in physiological and biochemical processes.This study was aimed at assessing the growth indices of seeds(maize and cowpea)grown on heavy metal contaminated soil treated with ginger extracts.The study adopted a Complete Randomized Design(CRD)in which growth indices of either maize or cowpea were examined from each crop type grown on soil without any pollutant or treatment and soils with metal pollutants;with or without treatment with ginger extracts in the individual experiments.Data were analyzed using ANOVA.The results showed that ginger extract induced oxidative stress on cowpea after 10 days of cultivation with root length significantly(P≤0.05)higher on the normal control-G-M and+L-G which recorded 7.60 and 7.3 cm respectively.Patterns of growth indices noticed after 30 and 40 days of cowpea cultivation were variable showing least growth in leaf development.Highest maize root(27.00 cm),shoot(8.85 cm)and leaf(25.25 cm)development were recorded in maize grown on soil without metal contamination but treated with ginger(+G-M-positive control)after days 10,40 and 40 after cultivation.It was observed that the soil contaminated with heavy metals affected the growth pattern of the crops thereby causing stunted growth,chlorosis,discoloration and wilting.It could be concluded that cowpea performed better in shoot of both treated and untreated soils even though the values were not significantly different from that of root and leaf while maize showed a decrease in shoot even though the values for root and leaf were not significantly different.
