E.D. VWIOKO

Heavy metal contamination, particularly lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) pollution, poses significant challenges to agricultural productivity and plant health. In this study, Corchorus olitorius was grown in soils treated with different concentrations of lead nitrate and cadmium chloride solutions. The heavy metal treatments applied were 50 and 100 ppm Cd; and 100 and 200 ppm Pb. The application of heavy metal solution was carried out eight times and these concentrations were chosen based on literature. The experiment was conducted as a field potted study. Each treatment was replicated four times. Field data were recorded for germination, which includes; plant height, stem girth, and number of leaves produced per plant. Biochemical analyses for chlorophyll, carotenoids and lycopene contents were also done. Spectral indices for stress in plants were carried out spectrophotometrically by scanning leaf extracts using 200 – 900nm wavelengths. Findings from this study shows that cadmium and lead pollution on jute plant induced faster and higher mean germination percentage of 58.75% with moderate concentration
of cadmium treatment (50ppm), compared to the control treatments which had a slower and a
low mean percentage germination of 26.8%. In terms of mean plant height, plants grown in
200ppm of lead nitrate had the highest plant height which measured 49.00cm compared to
control which had plant height of 40.50cm, while 50ppm cadmium had the least mean plant
height of 27.75cm, which were observed nine weeks after planting. Spectrophotometric analysis
was done, which indicated that the plants had a weak absorption of green wavelengths, but a
stronger absorbance range was observed in 200-400 nanometers (nm). Cadmium 50ppm had the
highest chlorophyll concentration while the least was observed with 100ppm lead. Findings from
the study concluded that heavy metals may enhance the growth of the plant but further research
should be carried out to evaluate the prolonged effects of heavy metal stress on the plant.