Original Research Article
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Article Number: DRJPHET7621097354
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26765/DRJPHET7621097354
ISSN: 2734-2182
Vol. 8(6), Pp. 80-91, July 2023
Copyright © 2023
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.
Abstract
This study assessed the phytoremediation of aquatic habitats contaminated with crude oil in University of Abuja. These habitats were simulated in twelve (12) white containers in the Biological Garden of the Department of Biological Sciences. Some of the water hyacinth plants used in this research were treated with sodium azide, a chemical mutagen to induce beneficial mutation in the genes of the plants that can result in an improvement in the rate of phytoremediation by the plant. The result from this study showed a significant decline in BOD, DO, TDS, EC and pH through the weeks of the studies for each month both for the plants that were genetically modified using sodium azide and those that were not genetically modified. The survival rate of the genetically modified water hyacinth was also higher, almost one hundred percent in some cases compared to the ones that were not genetically modified. The genetically modified plants identified as C, C1, C2 and D, D1 and D2 also gave a better result in terms of uptake of heavy metals like FE2+, PB2+ and SO2+4 ions. The study recommends that phytoremediation by plants can be improved upon using chemical mutagens like sodium azide that can induce beneficial mutation which will bring about an improvement of the plants natural ability to clean-up contaminated habitats through phytoremediation.
Keywords: Water pollution control, Water Hyacinth, sodium azide, phytoremediationReceived: June 2, 2023 Accepted: June 28, 2023 Published: July 12, 2023