¹ORJI, O. A. and ²Onwugbuta

¹Department of Crop/Soil Science, Rivers State University, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt

²Department of Biochemistry/ Chemistry Technology, School of Science Laboratory Technology, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt

Corresponding Author: ORJI, O. A

IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) e-ISSN: 2319-2402,p- ISSN: 2319-2399.Volume 12, Issue 12 Ver. I (December. 2018), PP 85-88

Abstract:

Surface soils were collected two weeks before planting and two weeks after harvest and analyzed for some physico-chemical properties. The soil samples were collected from the root area of plants where the leaf samples were obtained. Leaf samples were also taken from two varieties of maize (Zea mays L.) plants during the stem development (at the 9^th week of planting) and both were analyzed for Fe content. Correlation analysis between Fe contents of soil before and after planting and Fe contents of leaf during heading was performed to determine the relationship among the variables. The iron contents of the soil samples before planting ranged between 1.27 and 6.50 mg/kg, while the iron contents of soils after harvest ranged between 0.98 and 5.03mg/kg. However, iron contents of the leaf samples ranged from 14.88 to 96.01mg/kg. The correlation between iron contents of soil before planting and after harvest and iron contents of leaves showed a significant effect at the 0.01 level according to statistical analysis. This implies that there was direct relationship between iron contents of leaves and the soil samples analyzed.

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