Morpho-physiological characteristics of Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp grown in a controlled environment using effluents from a beverage bottling company.

The use of industrial effluents for agricultural practices due to waste management properties, water scarcity, or cultural belief affects both the physiology and morphology of cultivated crops. This study reports the investigation of the agro-potentiality of the effluents from a beverage bottling company on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) under a controlled environment. This greenhouse experiment was carried out within Obafemi Awolowo University.

Geochemical characterization of soil samples from gold mining areas using PIXE spectroscopy.

Particle-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) spectroscopy has been used to characterize soil samples from two relatively old gold mine sites (Iperindo and Itagunmodi) in the Ilesha schist belt of Southwestern Nigeria. This is with a view to identifying the indicator or pathfinder elements of gold for fingerprinting and toxicity potential assessment purposes. Average elemental concentrations of 19 major, minor, and trace elements were determined, and the geochemical data of Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, As, Pb, and Au together with multivariate factor and cluster statistical analyses allowed to identify As and Ag as the pathfinder elements of gold.

Radiological indices of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radionuclides: a PIXE approach.

This paper reports an assessment of the level of the radionuclides (40)K, (232)Th and (238)U in environmental soil samples (process waste), and hence their calculated dose rates. For this purpose, the radioactivity from three natural radionuclides was determined in tin process-waste samples in Jos, Nigeria. This work is based on the particle induced x-ray emission (PIXE) approach, devoid of the secular equilibrium, and most of the resolution, interference, self-absorption, geometrical and density correction problems inherent in gamma spectrometry.