Effects of Wastewater Application on Cd, Ni, and Pb Accumulation in Soil Profile under Greenhouse-lysimeteric Condition

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Former M.Sc. Student of Irrigation and Drainage. Department of Irrigation, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University;

2 Associate Professor, Department of Irrigation, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University;

Abstract

In this study, raw and treated wastewater from the Serkan Wastewater Treatment Plant was reused for potato irrigation under lysimetric conditions. The lysimeters were irrigated systematically each week during a period of five months before sowing operations. Experiment was run within greenhouse during a period of four months. The experiment was factorial with a completely randomized design in three replicates and two variables: irrigation and soil depth. Irrigation treatments included: raw wastewater (T1), treated wastewater (T2), a combination of 50% raw wastewater and 50% fresh water (T3), a combination of 50% treated wastewater and 50% fresh water (T4), and fresh water (T5) as the control. The soil cores depths studied were 0-10 and 10-20 cm. After harvesting the crop, soil samples of each lysimeter was sampled in order to analyze for cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) concentration in 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths. The results showed that the effects of irrigation treatments were significant on accumulation of Cd, Pb, and Ni in the soil depths. However, the interaction effects were insignificant on accumulation of the heavy metals. According to the results, the maximum and minimum accumulation of Cd, Pb, and Ni in the soil was obtained in T1 and T5, respectively. Overall, based on the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil, the irrigation treatments were ranked as follows: T1> T3> T2> T4> T5. Also, results showed that Cd, Pb, and Ni concentration decreased with soil depth. Based on the accumulation in the soil, the studied heavy metals were ranked as follows: Pb> Ni> Cd.

Keywords

Journal of Water Research in Agriculture
Volume 27, Issue 2
April 2013
Pages 229-240

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