R Abdullahi’s scientific contributions

Artisanal mining for Gold in Zamfara state of Nigeria led to massive contamination of the environment with lead (Pb) leading to poisoning and death. The approach for the clean-up involves excavation of the soil and dumping it somewhere which is a temporary solution that is equal to postponement of the reckoning day. The aim of this study was to evaluate the phytoremediation potential of some plants as a cheaper solution to this problem. The treatments consisted of three plant species (Amaranthus cruentus, Brassica oleracea var. capitata and Helianthus annus) factorially combined with four soils (the top soils of Regular Agricultural soil from BUK, Lead (Pb) contaminated soil from Zamfara, Soil from Sheka area peri-urban garden along the banks of Salanta stream contaminated with tannery effluents from Sharada Industrial Estate and BUK soil artificially polluted with a standard addition of Nitrate salts of Pb, Cd, Cr and Ni at the rate of 200 mg/kg for Pb and Cr, and 40 mg/kg for Ni and Cd), all laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and replicated three times. Results have shown that Amaranth emerged as the plant with the highest accumulation of metal in its tissue. Across the three plant species, Pb is the most highly accumulated metal and Ni is the least concentrated. The Bioconcentra-tion Factor (BCF) index >2 was recorded for Cr, Mn, and Cd in the tissue of Amaranth. The Translocation Factor index >1 was recorded for Mn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, and Zn. Cabbage had relatively high BCF index for some metals, meaning it can sequester Cd, Cr, Mn and Pb. The TF index >1was recorded for all of the metals. The implication of this is that Cabbage had the ability to translocate all the tested metals. Sunflower has also accumulated a good amount of the various heavy metals. BCF index >2 was recorded with Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn and Pb. But the TF index >1 was seen across all the metals. Soil from Zamfara was observed to produce plants with significantly higher Pb in the shoot, while differences in metal content in the shoot tissue among plant species was not significant.