Nature Environment and Pollution Technology p-ISSN: 0972-6268

Vol. 17 No. 1 pp. 255-259 2018

An International Quarterly Scientific Journal e-ISSN: 2395-3454
Original Research Paper Open Access

Effect of Different Soil Amendments on Growth Performance and Levels of

Copper and Zinc in Lycopersicon esculentum
O. E. Aina*†, J. O. Olowoyo*, L. L. Mugivhisa* and S. O. Amoo**
*Department of Biology, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Pretoria, South Africa
**Agricultural Research Council, Rodeplaat Vegetable and Ornamental Plants, South Africa
†Correspondence author: O.E. Aina

ABSTRACT
Nat. Env. & Poll. Tech.
Website: www.neptjournal.com Organic and inorganic amendments are added to soil with the aim of improving the crop yield. The
Received: 15-06-2017 present study investigated the effect of three types of soil amendments; organic (cow dung, chicken
Accepted: 21-08-2017 droppings) and inorganic (NPK-fertilizer) on trace metals (Cu and Zn) uptake and growth rate performance
of greenhouse cultivated Lycopersicon esculentum. Thirty-two pot-plants were used for the study,
Key Words: each containing mixture of soil and weighed different amendments for the cultivation of L. esculentum.
Chicken droppings The fruits were harvested at maturity and later analysed for trace metal concentrations using Inductively
Cow dung Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The study revealed significant differences in heights,
Soil amendments stem girths and canopy sizes, as well as the concentrations of Zn. The growth performance and yield
Heavy metals results were in the order of NPK fertilizer > chicken droppings manure > cow dung manure > control.
Lycopersicon esculentum The mean concentrations of trace metals indicated that the highest concentrations for trace elements
Growth performance were recorded for both Cu and Zn in Lycopersicon eculentum cultivated in cow dung amended soil.
There was no significant difference in the concentrations of Cu in tomato fruits across the amendments.
However, there was a significant difference in the concentrations of Zn recorded for the L. esculentum
across the group (p<0.05). The transfer factor of metals for this study showed that tomato fruits did
not bioaccumulate the trace metals, and therefore the study revealed that these types of manures and
fertilizer are safe to be used as soil amendments without increasing the trace metals elevated levels
of phytotoxicity.

ments, have become a necessity due to the loss of essential

INTRODUCTION nutrients required for good growth and quality yield by
Lycopersicon esculentum (tomato) is an important fruit food crops in the soil. Soil amendment is one of the many
popularly cultivated for its numerous nutritional and health farm techniques explored by farmers in providing solutions
benefits. It has been reported to be cultivated on every con- to the problem of loss in soil fertility resulting from over-
tinent except Antarctica (Maboko et al. 2015). Tomato is cultivation, industrialization and urbanization.
rich in vitamins, organic acids and a wide variety of nutri- Although application of fertilizers or manures which is
ents that are fundamental to human healthy living and is also known as soil amendments is used for the improvement
consequently incorporated into the human daily dietary for- of soil physical, chemical and biological conditions, al-
mulation as fruits and tomato-based products. Therefore, though it is not without its drawbacks. It has been reported
increase in demands for tomatoes among other food crops that animal manure contains high metal (Cu, Zn, As, Cd)
for consumption due to more informed health awareness concentration which causes metal pollution (Sager et al.
has resulted into massive production using diverse types of 2007, Toor et al. 2006, Moral et al. 2008). Also, the discov-
farming techniques (Dumas et al. 2003). Also, increasing ery that some phosphorus and trace element fertilizers con-
awareness of nutritional and medicinal benefits of antioxi- tained elevated quantities of metal like cadmium, arsenic
dants properties of tomatoes such as vitamin C, lycopene, and other metals of environmental concern has instigated
flavonoids, phenolic acid has shot up the demand for this research into fertilizer usage of soil amendment (Ajayi et al.
vegetable crop. 2012).
In the effort to increase the availability of this fruit, farm- Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of
ers have employed various farming techniques including different soil amendments on the growth rate and fruit yield
the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers (Walker & Bernal of Lycopersicon esculentum. The study also determined the
2008). These farming techniques, which include soil amend- concentrations of Cu and Zn from the harvested tomato fruits.
256 O.E. Aina et al.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Transfer factor (TF): The index of soil-plant transfer was
calculated using the relationship of the ratio of trace metals
A pot plants experiment was set up in a greenhouse at the in tomato fruit to the concentrations of the trace metals
production unit of the Department of Biology, Sefako present in the soil (TF= CT /Csoil) as described by Olowoyo et
Makgatho Health Sciences University located in the north- al. (2010). The possible human health risk for consuming
ern part of Pretoria (Tshwane Metropolitan) on a coordinate these tomatoes was calculated by Hazard Quotient (HQM),
(25°37’8” S and 28°1’22” E). using the equation HQM = ADDM/RFDM (Nabulo et al.
Soil and amendments: The experimental design consisted 2010).
of organic manures such as cow dung, chicken droppings TF represents the transfer factor of tomato fruits; CT is
and conventional or inorganic (NPK) fertilizer which were trace metal concentrations in tomato fruits; Csoil is trace metal
used in the treatment of the soil. Eight pots labelled A1-A8 concentrations in the soil.
for cow dung, B1-B8 for chicken droppings, C1-C8 for
HQM = ADDM / RFDM
NPK, and D1-D8 for control, were allocated to each amend-
ment. Each pot of 48cm × 24cm in size was filled with a Where, ADDM = DI × MFT / WB; ADDM represents the
mixture of soil and 150g of soil manures. The 150g of average daily dose (µg/g) of the metal; RFDM is the reference
amendment was chosen according to the experimental de- dose (µg/g) defined as the maximum tolerable daily intake
sign of Yang et al. (2012). The amended soils were watered of metal with no adverse effect; DI is the daily intake of
and turned over at two weeks interval for aeration and proper plant (0.182 kg/d for adults and 0.118 kg for children)
mineralization of the amendments before transplanting (Olowoyo & Lion 2013); WB is the body weight of examined
(Ayeni, 2014). Seedlings of Lycopersicon esculentum were individuals (55.7 kg for adults and 14.2 kg for children)
purchased at a registered nursery (Plantland, Pretoria North, Olowoyo et al. (2013).
South Africa) and transplanted into the amended and con- Statistical analysis: Analysis of variance was performed us-
trol soils. The plants were watered daily in the afternoon ing the tukeyposthoc test on IBM SPSS 24.0 to evaluate the
during the planting period. significant differences in the growth performance as well as
Data collection: Parameters such as plant growth rate were the metal concentrations in the soil and in the plant samples.
measured from the first week of seedling transplant for plant
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
height, canopy size and stem girth using meter rule and
vernier callipers respectively. Fruit yields data such as total Growth performance: The results for growth parameters
number of fruits per plant and total weight of fruits per plant such as plant height mean, canopy size mean and stem girth
using a digital electronic sensitive weighing scale were re- mean are presented in Table 1. The results obtained from
corded after all the fruits had been harvested at maturity. the study (p<0.05) indicated that there were significant dif-
Trace metal analysis of tomato fruit and soil samples: ferences in the mean plant height and the mean canopy size
Plant samples harvested at maturity were dried in a hot-air and stem girth of L. esculentum cultivated in the soil treated
oven for 48 hours at a temperature of 100°C and subse- with different amendments. This observation supports pre-
quently ground to fine particles using a homogenizer vious studies conducted by Zhang et al. (2010) and Olaniyi
(blender) for digestion process. Soil samples were also col- & Ojetayo (2012), who reported that nitrogen, phosphorus
lected and spread in a ventilated room to dry and ground to and potassium stimulate vegetative growth, increase cell
fine particles for digestion process. size and cellular number resulting from cell division and
Digestion method and ICP-MS analysis: Open digestion expansion leading to increase in plant stem girth. The mini-
method was used in the digestion process of the samples for mum and maximum mean values for plant height (9.5±2.66
trace metals analysis. About 0.5 g of ground plant and soil cm and 86.38±2.88 cm) were recorded from L. esculentum
samples were accurately weighed into a 50 mL conical flask, grown in soil amended with chicken droppings and inor-
using a digital electronic sensitive weighing scale. About 3 ganic fertilizer respectively. The minimum and maximum
mL of nitric acid 70% vol, 5 mL of perchloric acid 65% vol mean values for canopy size (11.6±1.91 cm and 91.88±4.61
and 4 mL of hydrogen peroxide were added to the samples cm) were also recorded from L. esculentum grown in soil
and heated for over 20 minutes until a very clear solution amended with chicken droppings and inorganic fertilizers
was observed. Deionized water was then added to the solu- respectively. Meanwhile, the minimum and maximum mean
tion to the 50 mL mark of the conical flask. The digested values for stem girth (3.3±0.2 mm and 18.2±0.45 mm) were
solution was further filtered with a Whatman No. 42 filter both recorded from L. esculentum grown in a soil with the
paper and the samples were then analysed for trace metals same amendment of inorganic NPK fertilizer. It must be noted
content using the ICP-MS. that the stem girth was not determined at the first day of

Vol. 17, No. 1, 2018  Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

 EFFECT OF SOIL AMENDMENTS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND Cu AND Zn IN TOMATO 257

Table 1: Mean growth performance of L. esculentum grown in different soil amendments.

Plant CD 11.25±1.41 ab 15.25±2.48 ab 20.20±2.12 bc 24.44±2.68 c 31.94±3.44 c 47.75±4.52 c 50.56±5.13 c 52.06±5.35 c

height CKD 9.50±2.66 b 13.50±2.70 b 21.06±2.86 b 28.25±2.80 b 36.56±1.86 b 53.38±3.38 b 55.70±3.52 b 57.70±3.60 b
(cm) NPK 10.63±2.28 ab 12.94±2.70 b 17.44±2.73 c 34.20±2.72 a 55.63±3.20 a 64.50±2.78 a 76.00±2.20 a 86.38±2.88 a
WA 11.75±1.46 a 17.50±2.60 a 25.00±3.48 a 30.13±40.00 b 39.00±6.17 b 52.31±5.27 b 55.00±5.04 b 55.44±4.72 bc
Canopy CD 13.81±1.22 b 23.50±3.02 b 25.70±4.00 b 28.00±3.27 c 33.91±3.32 c 39.34±2.62 c 42.00±2.83 c 50.88±4.45 d
size CKD 11.60±1.91 b 21.60±2.55 b 35.03±4.40 a 41.25±6.27 b 49.25±7.07 b 53.56±7.24 b 55.88±7.46 b 58.38±7.61 b
(cm) NPK 12.03±1.87 b 16.53±2.30 c 24.03±2.53 b 46.56±1.30 a 58.25±2.12 a 69.81±1.73 a 77.38±3.78 a 91.88±4.61 a
WA 18.44±6.55 a 28.63±3.62 a 33.88±4.23 a 31.78±5.53 c 37.50±3.35 c 41.03±3.67 c 44.00±3.32 c 44.75±3.18 c
Stem CD ND 4.17±0.43 b 5.23±0.70 b 5.65±0.78 d 6.18±0.54 d 6.93±0.65 d 7.08±0.56 d 7.33±0.60 d
girth CKD ND 4.20±0.74 b 6.75±0.88 a 8.20±1.20 b 9.04±1.42 b 10.03±1.55 b 10.37±1.52 b 10.6±1.50 b
(m m) NPK ND 3.30±0.20 c 5.11±0.32 b 9.56±0.38 a 11.72±0.42 a 14.03±0.60 a 15.96±0.33 a 18.2±0.45 a
WA ND 5.31±0.72 a 6.62±0.61 a 6.93±0.75 c 7.51±0.67 c 8.14±0.84 c 8.50±0.85 c 8.50±0.85 c

ND: not determined. Values with same letter(s) within the same row indicate no significant difference (p>0.05).

Table 2: The yield performance of Lycopersiconesculentum grown in different soil amendments.

Treatment Total number of fruits Total fruit weight (kg)

Cow dung 37 6.44

Chicken droppings 56 9.89
NPK 97 17.82
Control 30 5.4

transplanting because of the fragile nature of the seedling that NPK amended soil produced the highest number of
stems and susceptibility to damages from any external meas- fruits and the highest total fruit weights, followed by chicken
uring tools. droppings amended soil and cow dung amended soil, with
The study showed that L. esculentum planted in control the lowest yield recorded for soil without amendment. These
soil recorded the highest plant height at the first to third observations agreed with previous work done by Mohamed
week after transplanting. This agreed with the study done et al. (2016), where the importance of physiological roles of
by Oyedeji et al. (2014) who reported that the initial slow nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in plant growth and
growth rate observed from A. hibridus after transplanting development were noted, and that addition of such
could be due to physiological changes by plants in the micronutrients to plants through soil amendments ensures
amended soil. However, from fourth to eight weeks after high productivity.
transplanting, the plant heights for plants grown in soil Trace metals concentration in tomato: The mean concen-
amended with NPK overtook the ones planted in the soil trations of Cu an Zn in tomato fruits harvested from soil
amended with chicken droppings, control soil and the soil treated with different amendments are presented in Table 3.
amended with cow dung. Similarly, the canopy size and The highest concentration was recorded for Cu in tomato
stem girth recorded for plants grown in soil without amend- fruits harvested from cow dung amended soil. The concen-
ment were bigger than the ones in the soil amended with trations ranged from 0.13±0.02µg/g-0.30±0.01µg/g and
cow dung, chicken droppings and NPK during the first to there was no significant difference in the concentrations of
second week after transplanting. The slower growth rate from Cu (p>0.05). The highest mean concentration of Cu recorded
plants cultivated in pots amended with NPK, chicken drop- for L. esculentum in this study was well below the recom-
pings and cow dung during early weeks after transplanting mended safe limits of 40µg/g in food by World Health Or-
agreed with Agbaje et al. (2002); and Ayeni et al. (2012) ganization (WHO 2012). Copper serves as a cofactor in many
reports that this could be due to initial physiological changes reactions involving iron. It suppresses free radicals and it is
after transplanting. involved in collagen synthesis (Demirevska-Kepova et al.
The yield performance of the Lycopersicon esculentum, 2004). Copper phytotoxicity which is resulted from elevated
which was recorded by the total number and total weight of levels or copper poisoning may cause cirrhosis of liver and
fruits per treatment, are presented in Table 2. The highest in extreme cases lead to death (Kibira et al. 2010).
mean yield was recorded for fruits harvested in the soil treated The highest mean concentration for Zn was recorded in
with NPK and the lowest yield was recorded for fruits har- L. esculentum harvested from cow dung amended soil and
vested in soil without amendment. The current study showed the minimum mean concentration was recorded in soil with-

Nature Environment and Pollution Technology  Vol. 17, No. 1, 2018

258 O.E. Aina et al.

Table 3: The mean concentrations of Cu and Zn in the soil and in the Lycopersiconesculentum fruit.

Cu (µg/g) Zn (µg/g)
Treatments Soil Plant Soil Plant

Cow dung 1.20±0.10 a 0.30±0.41 a 3.00±1.58 a 0.50±0.24 a

Chicken droppings 1.17±0.11 a 0.13±0.02 a 2.41±1.00 a 0.46±0.14 ab
NPK 1.30±0.16 a 0.08±0.03 a 3.64±2.31 a 0.38±0.11 ab
Control 1.30±0.16 a 0.27±0.28 a 2.36±2.11 a 0.26±0.11 b

Values with different letter(s) in the same row indicate significant difference (p<0.05).

Table 4: The mean values of the soil pH.

Cow dung Chicken droppings NPK Control

7.40±0.08 7.43±0.07 7.40±0.10 7.35±0.13

Table 5: Transfer factor values of Cu for Lycopersicon esculentum harvested from different soil amendments.

Treatment Cu Zn

Cow dung 0.003 0.167

Chicken droppings 0.111 0.191
NPK 0.062 0.104
Control 0.208 0.110

out amendments. The concentrations ranged from study observation which showed that there was a decrease
0.26±0.11µg/g-0.50±0.24µg/g. There were significant dif- in the level of metal concentration uptake by tomato fruits.
ferences in the concentrations Zn in the L. esculentum fruits This observation is also supported by the recent study con-
from the different soils. Zinc is reported to be an essential ducted by Adamczyk-Szabela et al. (2015), who reported
trace element that is involved as a cofactor in several that Zn accumulation was decreased in plants grown under
enzymatic reactions and serves as an essential component alkaline compared to acidic conditions. The results of trans-
of nuclear DNA binding protein (Kibria et al. 2012). Studies fer factor (TF) for tomato are presented in Table 5. The val-
have established Zn to be required for the normal growth, ues of the transfer factor recorded for Cu ranged from 0.003-
development of plants and human beings, it is required in 0.208, and from 0.104-0.191 for Zn. The transfer factor,
minute quantities (Jung 2008, Hashim et al. 2007). The con- which is the ratio of the concentration of the metal in the
centration of Zn recorded in this study was below toxic plant to the metal concentration in the soil, is calculated to
level of 200µg/g in plant (Alia et al. 2015; Jung 2008). determine whether a plant bioaccumulates or not (Baylock
This study however, observed that highest concentra- et al. 2005). The plant with a TF>1 is reported to be en-
tions the studied trace metals were recorded for the fruits riched with the metal (accumulator), TF that is slightly less
cultivated in the cow dung amended soil. This observation than or equal to 1 indicates that the plant is not influenced
could be due to the area of collection of this cow dung by the metal, and a TF<1 is an indication of a plant that
manure. This area which is known for its mining activities excludes the uptake of the metal (excluder) (Pilon-Smits
has been reported to be polluted by trace metals by Olowoyo 2005). Since, the results of this study indicated TF<1, it
et al. (2013). showed that Lycopersicon esculentum did not
Soil pH and metals transfer factor: The mean values of the bioaccumulate Cu and Zn and hence safe for human con-
soil pH are presented in table 4. The soil pH values ranged sumption, which also agreed with the study of
from 7.35±0.13-7.43±0.07 and thus showed that the soil phytoremediation conducted by Sithole et al. (2016).
used for this study was alkaline. Soil pH has been reported CONCLUSION
to be a major factor in the availability and uptake of trace
metals by plants (Xianjin et al. 2015). It has been reported This study concludes that organic manures such as cow
that metals are mobile in acidic medium than in neutral or dung and chicken droppings can serve as viable alterna-
alkaline (Wang et al. 2006). This is in accordance with our tives to inorganic or chemical NPK fertilizer in the effort to

Vol. 17, No. 1, 2018  Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

 EFFECT OF SOIL AMENDMENTS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND Cu AND Zn IN TOMATO 259

balance the production of quality and safe agricultural crops and bio-fertilization treatments in presence of chemical fertili-
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