Soil communities, the microorganisms, are the initial and primary recipients of hydrocarbons or any xenobiotics incidented on the soil. This study evaluated the biology of soil organisms, ex-situ; the hydrocarbonclastics and non-hydrocarbonclastics, following an exposure to spent engine oil. The result demonstrated that at low and moderate contaminations of 1.5 and 2.5% w/w, hydrocarbons reduced the microbial population from control, 1.28 x109 cfu, to 3.42 x108 and 3.06 x 108cfu on week one respectively. However, at increased contaminations of 3.5% w/w, hydrocarbons from large oil spills weaken microbial ability to degrade the added hydrocarbons as the prejudicial nature reduced the population to 1.62 x 108cfu on week one. Overall, across the weeks, there was insurgence of hydrocarbon-degrading organisms, the hydrocarbonclastics, which on the other hand induced a limitation in microbial diversity. The isolated hydrocarbonclastic microorganisms in the descending order of their biodegradation potentials are: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Arthrobacter, Alealigena, Corynebacter, Flavo-bacterium, Archromobacter, Micrococcus, Norcardia and Myco-bacterium. Thus within the ecosystem they devised metabolic diversity with increased catabolic properties primarily aimed at biodegrading the xenobiotics; making them hydrocarbonclastic organisms.

Plants materials contained some bio-active ingredients which help in treating of so many diseases and also provide vital components for human and animal nutrition. Preliminary phytochemical screening and some nutritional profile of Cnidoscolus aconitofolius leaves were investigated in this study. The dry leaves of Cnidoscolus aconitofolius were subjected to proximate, vitamins and mineral contents analysis. Furthermore, the samples were subjected to soxlet extraction using methanol and water of different polarities for qualitative phytochemical screening. The preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening revealed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, steroids and absence of tannins respectively. Among the proximate composition carbohydrate was found to be high (65.54%), followed by crude fat (13.33%) and ash (12.08%), while moisture, proteins and crude fibre were 0.67%, 5.55% and 2.83 % respectively. The results showed that the sample contained 18.12mg/100g vitamin A and 15.20mg/100g vitamin C concentrations. The levels of some selected mineral elements of public health important are Potassium 378.62mg/100g, Sodium 82.02mg/100g, Phosphorus 5.73mg/100g, Magnesium 1.72mg/100g, Iron 1.02mg/100g, Calcium 1.02mg/100g, Copper 0.30mg/100g, Zinc 1.14mg/100g and Manganese with 0.08mg/100g respectively. This study revealed that the leaves of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius contained some phytochemicals constituents of medicinal importance. The nutritional compositions also showed an appreciable amount of vitamin A and C and some minerals elements. Therefore, the plant may be considered as a good source of macro and micro-nutrients of potential nutritional importance.

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stress factors in plants that devastatingly affect the plants growth and reduce productivity. The major causes of soil salinity are dry climates and low precipitations, high evaporation rate, which adds salts to the ground surface; poor drainage or waterlogging. Tracking the genetic sequences and control of switching on/off of such transcriptional genes may help in mitigating influences of several biotic and abiotic stresses. PtSOS2, AtNHX1, and OsRab7 are the most important salt tolerant genes. Under drought treatments, induction of NAC and homeobox domain containing TFs illustrates their regulatory roles. Uptake of compatible solutes, synthesis of antifreeze proteins and antioxidants, and expression of cold responsive genes perform significant preventive roles against cold stress. Glucanase gene is one of the reflective examples of disease resistant enzyme. It catalyzes the synthesis of phytoalexins. Through this is strategy, the process involved in defensive mechanisms of plants contouring abiotic stress. Heat shock (HS) is often lethal to plants and exert negative impacts on the structural as well as functional profiles in many crops. It occurs by genetic modification in the Arabidopsis by viral DNA from recognition by the guide RNA.