The effect of Oil Sludge Contamination on Seed Germination Response and Initial Growth of Several Broadleaf Saplings

Nowadays, increasing consumption of oil and other fossil fuels in Iran, as well as growing development in the extraction, exploitation, and refining of these fossil resources, has increased the sensitivity of the environment and human societies. In this research, the germination performance of black locust, Judas tree, ash, Chinaberry and tree of heaven seeds was studied in a completely randomized block design with three replicates (each replicate with three pots). Seed germination counting began with the average time of elevated emergence on the soil in the pots. This counting was continued until the end of germination and the initial growing characteristics were measured. The result indicated that most of the measured germination indicators of studied saplings were decreased with increasing contamination levels. Soil treatment with 400 g/kg of oil sludge as the highest contamination level not only did not decrease the speed and average germination time in asparagus seed, but also the average percentage of germination (21%) and seed vigor index (33.91% percent) were decreased less than other species. Growth response results of the studied species showed that the growth performance of ash species was not decreased compared to other species in the conditions of oil sludge contamination, while in some of the studied species, decreased growth up to 76% was observed and recorded under the intense contamination.