Response of An Ultisol Polluted With Crude Oil to Amelioration With Cattle Dung.

Response of an ultisol polluted with crude oil to amelioration with cattle dung. By Ogboghodo, I. A. and Ufinomue, E. O. Department of Soil Science University of Benin 06Benin City Nigeria. ABSTRACT. The response of an ultisol polluted with crude oil to amelioration with cattle dung was investigated in pot and field experiments. The field experiment was carried out in the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Benin, Benin City (Lat. 06ON 05OE ) and the soil for the pot experiment was collected from the same farm. Crude oil used for the experiment was Bonny light, obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) while the cattle dung was collected from an abattoir in Benin City. Properties of the crude oil, cattle dung and soil are shown in Tables 1, 2 and 3 in the text. The rates of crude oil used for polluting the soil were 0, 25, 50 and 75ml/20kg of soil in the pot and 0,200, 400 and 600 ml in the field. Rates of cattle dung used were the equivalents of 0, 50, 100 and 150kg/ha in the pot and 0, 400, 800 and 1200kg/ha in the field. The experiments were laid out in Completely Randomized Design. Soils were analyzed 2, 4 and 10 weeks after pollution with crude oil for various soil parameters. Results from both experiments showed that amelioration with crude oil improved soil properties. In the pot experiment, pH, org. C, total N and exchangeable cations increased with increasing rates of cattle dung application. e.g. org. C increased from 1.52cmol/kg to 3.58cmol/kg. Similar results were obtained with the field experiment e.g. org. C increased from 0.40cmol/kg to 1.82cmol/kg using the highest rate of cattle dung amelioration.