Microbial content of abattoir wastewater and its contaminated soil in Lagos, Nigeria

Microbial content of wastewater in two abattoirs and the impact on microbial population of receiving soil was studied in Agege and Ojo Local Government Areas in Lagos State, Nigeria. Wastewatersamples were collected from each of the abattoirs over three months period and examined for microbial content. Soil samples contaminated with the wastewaters were also collected and analysed formicrobial content as compared to soil without wastewater contamination in the neighbourhood (control). Some physico-chemical parameters of the samples such as total dissolved solid, chemical oxygen demand etc were examined. The wastewater samples from both abattoirs were highlycontaminated; Agege abattoir showed mean bacterial count of 3.32x107 cfu/ml and Odo abattoir showed mean count of 2.7x107 cfu/ml. The mean fungal populations were 1.6x 105 and 1.2x05 cfu/ml for Agege and Odo abattoirs respectively. In the contaminated soil sample, mean bacterial count was 3.36x107 cfu/ml compared to the 1.74x106 cfu/ml of the control sample. High microbial load in abattoir wastewater with negative effects on microbial population in soil, in this study, further confirmed the need to treat wastewater rather than discharging it to the environment

Effects of intrapopulation competition on morphological and agronomic characters of Jute plant (Corchorus olitorius L.)

The effects of population density on some agronomic traits of Corchorus olitorius were investigated by growing the seedlings in a field experiment at densities of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 plants per m2during the raining season of 2006, at the Ojo campus of Lagos State University (LASU), Nigeria. The randomized block design (RBD) was the experimental design used, with three replicates. The direct effect of competition was investigated on the following agronomic attributes; final height/plant, number of branches/plant, stem girth/plant, number of leaves/plant, total fresh weight, total dry weight, moisture content, total leaf length, leaf petiole length, leaf area, blade length and blade width. A highly significant effect (p < 0.01) of competition was observed for final plant height and total moisture content/ plant, while significant effect (p < 0.05) was observed for other attributes investigated, except for all leaf parameters where insignificant effect of competition was observed. There was a gradual decline in all attributes except height/plant as population density increased. These observations confirmed theoccurrence of intraspecific competition in population of jute plant