Some trace elements in juice and bagasse of two varieties of sugarcane, location soil and irrigation water from Bacita Sugar Estate, Nigeria

Abstract

Some trace elements (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd and Pb) have been determined in the juice and bagasse of two varieties of sugarcane (S9C0959 and S27BC0997) grown at Bacita Sugar Estate, Nigeria.  These trace elements were also analysed for in the plantation soil and in the irrigation water being used for the production. All the trace elements have low concentrations in all the samples. Zn, Fe, Mn and Cu have relatively higher concentrations in the plantation soil than in other samples. Zn has relatively higher average levels of 0.311 mg/l and 0.401 mg/l in the cane juice of S9C0957 and S27BC0997 respectively. The levels of Mn and Cu are generally very low in the juice, bagasse and irrigation water, while Cd and Pb are rarely detected in most of the samples. Comparison of these levels of trace elements in irrigation water with WHO and United States Environmental Protection Agency maximum permissible levels for both drinking and irrigation purposes indicates that Bacita irrigation water is not potable but suitable for irrigation of farmlands. The linear regression analysis of the analytical results shows that stronger associations occurred between bagasse/juice (r = 0.8744 and 0.9039 for S9C0957 and S27BC0997 respectively), bagasse/irrigation water (r = 0.9406 and 0.9471 for S9CO957 and S27BC0997 respectively) and juice/irrigation water (r = 0.7570 and 0.9848 for S9C0957 and S27BC0997 respectively). No significant difference (P = 0.05) was found between the trace elements concentrations in the juice and bagasse of the two cane varieties.