Biofortification of Agricultural Effluents on Translocation and Accumulation of Micronutrients Content in Cucumber (cucumis Sativus) Plants Grown in a Coastal Plain Sand Soil South - South Ecological Zone, Nigeria.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of agricultural effluents on Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn, partitioned in cucumber plants. Eight treatments, cassava mill effluent (CME), palm oil mill effluent (POME), poultry waste effluent PWE and their combinations were biofortified on cucumber plants. Samples were collected from the amended soils and plant parts (roots, shoots and fruits) and analyzed for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn. The Bioaccumulation Factor (BAF), Translocation Factor (TF) as well as the Enrichment Factor (EF) of the micronutrients in the cucumber plant parts were determined. The results shows that, the micronutrients budgeted by the effluents had their highest values from CME+PWE, POME+PWE, CME+POME+PWE, and POME. The abundance of the micronutrients budgeted in soils was in the order of Fe3+ > Zn2+ > Mn2+ ≥ Cu2+. The micronutrients in cucumber plants follows the order of Shoots >Fruits ≥ Roots for Cu, Shoots > Root > Fruits for Fe, Root > Shoots > Fruits for Mn, and Fruits > Shoots > Root, for Zn. Zinc was shown to be more accumulated in cucumber plants than the other micronutrients, as indicated by the BAF's order of (Zn > Mn ≥ Cu > Fe). Zn (Shoots to Fruits) was found to be the micronutrient which was more translocated (TF >3) than the others. Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn had EF values were greater than 1. The order in which the effluents' capacity to transmit micronutrients to cucumber shoots and fruits are Zn>Fe>Mn>Cu.