Effect of Crude Oil Pollution on Seed Germination and Shoot Emergence Toxicity of Garcinia kola Seedlings

Crude oil pollution is the release of petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment. The aim of the study is to unveil the danger of crude oil pollution on germination of seeds of indigenous tree species. In this research, seed germination and shoot emergence of Garcinia kola in crude oil contaminated soil was investigated. The impact of the pollutant on seed germination was compared between five polluted treatments coded as BLCO1, BLCO2, BLCO3, BLCO4 and BLCO5 and one non-polluted treatment (NBLCO) for thirty weeks after sowing (30WAS). Analysis of variance indicated significance difference between the varied treatments at pless than 0.05. Percentage germination for NBLCO was quiet high (97 %) compared to 36 % from BLCO5. The difference between the highest and the lowest rate of germination was 60 %. The result showed that the hydrocarbon compound influenced seed germination and shoot emergence of the tree species. The effect was delay germination and seed dormancy.