EFFECT OF DYE WASTE WATER ON THE GROWTH OF SLENDER AMARANTH (AMARANTHUS) IN MAIDUGURI, BORNO STATE

ABSTRACT The study examined the impact of dye wastewater on the growth and physiological responses of slender amaranth (Amaranthus) cultivated in the Botanical Garden of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, with the aim of evaluating plant growth parameters under stress induced by varying concentrations of dye wastewater and identifying potential remediation strategies. Relevant literature on environmental stressors and plant physiology was reviewed to contextualize the study. A descriptive experimental design was employed, utilizing 30 polythene bags in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) to expose plants to six different dye wastewater concentrations, with four replicates per treatment. Data on plant height, leaf number, fresh biomass, dry biomass, and chlorophyll content were collected systematically using standard tools and analyzed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test to assess statistical significance. The findings revealed that increasing concentrations of dye wastewater led to significant reductions in all measured growth and physiological parameters, indicating the detrimental effects of dye waste stress on plant development. High levels of dye wastewater exposure were associated with suppressed plant height (LSD values: 12.46, 8.25, 8.25, and 6.85 across weeks), reduced leaf production (LSD values: 1.8, 2.0, 1.2, and 1.1 across weeks), lower fresh biomass (LSD values: 3.68g, 6.77g, 1.47g, and 1.05g across replicates), diminished dry biomass (LSD values: 2.07g, 0.92g, 0.79g, and 0.97g), and decreased chlorophyll content (LSD values: 0.15, 0.38, 0.19, and 0.14 for chlorophyll components). ANOVA results confirmed statistically significant differences between treatment groups for all parameters, with highly significant p-values (p < 0.001), and the ANOVA F-ratios for plant height, leaf number, fresh biomass, dry biomass and chlorophyll content were 46.25, 25.49, 83.07, 7.56, and 9.65, respectively, all surpassing the significance threshold. The study concluded that dye wastewater poses significant risks to plant health in the study area. It was recommended that there is a need for adopting bioremediation and phytoremediation techniques, to enhance awareness of the impacts of dye waste pollution and implementing waste management practices to reduce environmental contamination and its adverse effects on agriculture.