Culturing of Duckweed (Lemna minor) under Different Chicken Manure Concentration in the Lab

Abstract

The research on the Culturing of Duckweed (Lemna minor) plants under different chicken manure concentrations in the laboratory was conducted to determine relative growth rate of duckweed and to determine the physicochemical parameters of the experimental water. The experimental design was based on an assumption that duckweed spores are contained in the bottom of flood plain stagnant pools. The sprouting of duckweed (Lemna minor) was monitored under media chicken manure concentrations of 5g per 10 litre for treatment one. Treatment two was 7.5g per 10 litre of water. Treatment three, 10g per 10 litre of water, treatment four, 12.5g per 10lit of water, and for treatment five 15g per 10 litre of water was used. 75 litre plastic bowls were used for this experiment. Each bowl were inoculated with 100 pods of duckweed. Water quality in tanks treated with chicken manure and inoculated with duckweed shows that there was no significant difference in water quality across the treatments (p>0.05). However, the pH varied over the weeks of experimentation with increase in pH being observed from an initial value of 7.92 to a final value of 10.25 in week 4. There was a high percentage increase of 45% in DO for T2 while all other treatments recorded declines in DO. Each treatment was replicated, giving a total of 12 experimental containers including the control treatment. To every plastic container 100g of wet soil that was collected was introduced along with 10 liters of domestic water supply. The various chicken manure levels were weighed and randomly assigned to the experimental containers in replicate.  Under favorable climatic conditions and nutrient balance in growth media, Lemna minor can double its biomass within seven days. The plot of numerical abundance of duckweed stems in the culture media revealed that duckweed mean levels in T2 (M=213.8000) was more than other treatments with significant difference at P<0.05. T5 (M= 83.6000) was least, and Control (M= 95.0000), during the experiment.