Potential of Chicken Droppings in Reclaiming Diesel-Contaminated Soil from a Farmland situated at Gonin-gora, Chikun Local Government Area (L.G.A), Kaduna State, Nigeria

Diesel pollution of soil is widespread and adversely affects soil fertility, plant growth and soil microflora population. This study determined the potential of chicken droppings in reclaiming diesel-contaminated soil from a farmland situated at Gonin-gora, Chikun Local Government Area (L.G.A), Kaduna State, Nigeria using standard methods. Three earthen pots containing 1kg of diesel-contaminated soil each were amended with chicken droppings. Sample A, B and C were amended with 100g, 200g and 300g of pulverized chicken droppings respectively. A fourth sample D was maintained as the control (contained diesel-contaminated soil but was not amended). The duration of the experiment was 12 weeks and sampling was carried out monthly for changes in diesel-utilizing bacteria, physicochemical properties and diesel degradation. The diesel-utilizing bacteria ranged from 1.86 × 106 CFU/g to 7.36 × 106 CFU/g. Samples amended with chicken droppings had higher bacterial growth than the control sample. The diesel-utilizing bacteria identified in this study belonged to the genera Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus. The degradation of diesel was monitored using the weight loss method and there was significant degradation in the diesel content after the study period. The highest degradation of diesel was recorded in Sample C (polluted soil + 30% CD) (30.1%); followed by sample B (polluted soil + 20% CD) (28.3%); then sample A (polluted soil + 10% CD) (22.6%). Sample D (polluted soil without amendment) which was the control had the lowest (17.2%) degradation of diesel. GC-MS showed a significant decrease in carbon compounds of the residual diesel in all samples after the study period. Thus, the results obtained demonstrated the potential of chicken droppings for enhanced bioremediation of diesel-contaminated soil

Can Development Programs Shape Cooperation?

Empirical studies among small-scale societies show that participation in national development programs impact traditional norms of community cooperation. We explore the extent to which varying levels of village and individual involvement in development policies relate to voluntary cooperation within community settings. We used a field experiment conducted in seven villages (208 participants) from an indigenous society in Indonesia known for their strong traditional cooperative norms, the Punan Tubu. We framed the experiment in terms of an ongoing government house-building program. The results indicate that there were synergistic and antagonistic interactions between existing cooperative norms and government development policies. Participants’ cooperation in the experimental setting was low, probably because the Punan Tubu are used to cooperating and sharing both under demand and in a context in which uncooperative behavior is largely unpunished. Variation in experimental behavior was related to both village- and individual-level variables, with participants living in resettlement villages and participants living in a house constructed under the government program displaying more cooperative behavior. The cooperation evident in resettled villages may indicate that people in these villages are more comfortable interacting in anonymous settings and less committed to the demand-sharing norms still prevalent in the upstream villages. The more cooperative behavior among villagers who have previously received a house might indicate that they recognize that they are now better off than others and feel more obliged to cooperate. Policies aiming to capitalize on existing cooperative behavior to stimulate community collective action should consider the specific conditions under which cooperation occurs in real settings since traditional norms that regulate cooperative behavior might not translate well to cooperation in government-led programs