Growth Responses of Two Cultivated Okra Species (Abelmoschus caillei (A. Chev) Stevels and Abelmoschus esculentus (Linn.) Moench) in Crude Oil Contaminated Soil

Abstract

The morphological distinctiveness of two cultivated Okra species- Abelmoschus caillei and Abelmoschus esculentus was investigated using six accessions; three for each species in crude oil contaminated soil. The seeds were collected from home gardens in Benin City and NIHORT. Morpho-agronomic characters such as numbers of days from sowing to germination, plant height, stem base diameter, stem color and pubescence, leaf shape and color, number of leaves produced, growth habit, branching, fruit and fruiting characters were determined. The growth response of the different accessions varied significantly (p< 0.05). Soil chemical analysis revealed decreased levels of pH, Phosphorus and Potassium in the contaminated soil. Generally, all the quantitative characters including number of flower buds and flowers produced, fruit length, height of plant and stem girth were reduced in plants (Okra) grown in the contaminated soil while most of the qualitative characters such as pigmentation and shape of plant organs were less affected. Thus, it can be suggested from the study that crude oil contamination of soil may lead to reduction in growth characteristics.

Keywords: Crude oil, Soil, Morpho-agronomic characters, Abelmoschus caillei, A. esculentus.