Comparative study of the biomass, water content and total protein content of white and yellow maize plant (Zea mays) grown in crude oil contaminated soil

Abstract

Obinna Aru Oje1, Ikechukwu Noel Emmanuel Onwurah1, Otumedorcas Osuo-Mokpeme1, Chukwuma Stephen Ezeonu2

The effect of crude oil on microorganisms, animals, plants and the environment has become a major concern to the environmental scientist. Therefore this work is aimed at comparing the effect of various contamination of crude oil on the total wet weight, biomass, water content and total protein of two varieties of maize plants (Zea mays) i.e. the white and yellow Maize. Two kilograms (2Kg) of soil were contaminated with various concentration of crude oil (in percentages) using pots. The experiment was allowed to run for one week and the plants were harvested for the determination of wet weight, biomass, water content and protein content. The results reveal that there was a gradual decrease in the parameters determined as the concentration of crude oil was increasing. Also the result showed that the even though the protein concentration in white maize was higher than the yellow maize, the effect of the toxicity of crude oil was found to affect the yellow maize more than the white maize.