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

Abstract

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.