Soil science
H. Hatami; H. Parvizi; A. Parnian; Gholamhassan Ranjbar
Abstract
IntroductionThe availability of phosphorus (P) is a limiting factor for the production of crops due to its reactions with soil components. Furthermore, there are concerns about the depletion of non-renewable global rock phosphate (the main source of P) reserves because of the high demand for P fertilizers. ...
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IntroductionThe availability of phosphorus (P) is a limiting factor for the production of crops due to its reactions with soil components. Furthermore, there are concerns about the depletion of non-renewable global rock phosphate (the main source of P) reserves because of the high demand for P fertilizers. Therefore, it is essential to revisit existing agricultural practices to determine new resource management practices that utilize renewable resources. The application of sewage sludge could be an alternative P source; contrary to inorganic fertilizers, sewage sludge is cheap, contains nutrients, and improves soil quality due to contained organic matter. The total P content of sewage sludge may vary from less than 0.1% to over 14% on a dry solid basis, depending on the nature of the raw sewage being treated and the treatment process under consideration. However, the use of organic P resources can affect the soil chemistry, leading to changes to the P fractions and their quantities. Hence, the objective of this study was to compare the effect of the application of municipal sewage sludge and triple superphosphate on the distribution of soil-P fractions under saline and non-saline conditions.Materials and MethodsTo investigate the effect of municipal sewage sludge and triple superphosphate on changes in P fractions an incubation experiment was conducted in a completely randomized factorial design with three levels of triple superphosphate (0, 75, and 100 Kg ha-1 which were named T0, T1, and T3, respectively), three levels of municipal sewage sludge (0, 0.25 and 0.5% w/w which were named M0, M1 and M3, respectively), two levels of salinity of irrigation water (2 and 12 dS m−1, which were named saline and non-saline, respectively) and three replicates. The total number of samples was 54. The treated soils were incubated for three months and maintained at field capacity by adding the appropriate amount of saline and non-saline waters. P fractionated to KCl-P (soluble and exchangeable P), NaOH-P (Fe- and Al bound P), HCl-P (Ca-bound P), Res-P (residual P), and organic-P by sequential extraction method. Moreover, P percentage recovery for Olsen-P at each treatment was calculated. P concentration in samples was determined by the molybdate method. Data analysis was performed by MSTAT-C software, and the means were compared at α꞊5% by Duncan test. Results and DiscussionThe results showed that although the relative distribution of fractions followed the order of HCl-P < Organic-P < KCl-P < NaOH-P <Res-P, the changes in each fraction were dependent on the type of treatment and fraction. The amounts of KCl-P for application of municipal sewage sludge and fertilizer TSP combined, especially, T2M2 were 3.1 and 2.3 times higher than T0M0 in non-saline and saline conditions, respectively. The same result was obtained for NaOH-P. The combined and separate application of municipal sewage sludge diminished the relative distribution of HCl-P compared with triple superphosphate and control treatments in both salinities. However, the HCl-P in all treatments was more than 57% of the total P, suggesting that most of the soil P was in the carbonate phase. The treatments did not have a considerable impact on Res-P. The relative distribution of Organic-P increased by increasing levels of salinity and municipal sewage sludge. Therefore, it seems that municipal sewage sludge addition along with fertilizer P can reduce the negative effects of salinity and increase soil P availability compared with alone use of P fertilizer through growing the contents of KCl-P, NaOH-P, and organic-P fractions and, consequently, decreasing P entry into HCl-P fraction. Moreover, the application of municipal sewage sludge plus triple superphosphate increased P recovery as Olsen-P compared to a separate application of triple superphosphate which confirmed the advantage of the combined use of these sources.ConclusionThe findings of this study indicate that the simultaneous application of municipal sewage sludge and triple superphosphate can effectively improve phosphorus (P) availability in saline conditions. This enhancement is attributed to the alteration of the relative distribution of non-stable P fractions, such as KCl-P and NaOH-P, which increase, while stable P fractions like HCl-P decrease. Moreover, the addition of municipal sewage sludge into soils led to a significant increase in organic C as well as the relative distribution of organic-P. Therefore, application of municipal sewage sludge can improve the physico-chemical properties of saline soil along with increase of P availability. Hence, further research on the growth response of halophyte plants as affected by these treatments is recommended.
Amir Parnian; Mostafa Chorom; Nematolah Jafarzade Haghighy Fard
Abstract
Introduction: With increasing of population and the valuable water resource pollutions, a demand has been felt for new and inexpensive methods in order to remediation and improving of water quality. Cadmium is a trace element. In low concentration, this heavy metal is harmful to life, and considered ...
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Introduction: With increasing of population and the valuable water resource pollutions, a demand has been felt for new and inexpensive methods in order to remediation and improving of water quality. Cadmium is a trace element. In low concentration, this heavy metal is harmful to life, and considered as a dangerous pollutant. Cadmium leads to pollution and reduction of water quality; sometimes even toxicity through contaminated sources such as wastewater (Agricultural, municipal and industrial). Phytoremediation with aquatic macrophytes is an effective and inexpensive method for improving water quality and wastewater. The aim of this study was to investigatethe cadmium phytoremediation by Ceratophyllumdemersum L. as a potential method for remediation of cadmium pollution in aquatic medium.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the remediation of cadmium pollution in aquatic medium monitored, within 14 days cultivation of coontail (Ceratophyllumdemersum L.). At first, for estimating the level of local wastewater cadmium pollutions, five-month cadmium concentration measurement of steel industrial wastewater and urban wastewater set. Then, plants collected from the irrigation channels of ShahidChamran University of Ahvaz. After finding the best pH of nutrient solution for Ceratophyllumdemersum L. growth by cultivating the plants in 2 liters pots filled by the solutions withthree different pH(5.5, 7 and 9.5) within three weeks; 12 grams of plants cultivated in 2 liters of Hoagland nutrient solution contaminated by cadmium(pH = 7). The initial contamination levels were setasfive different concentrations of cadmium (0, 1, 2, 4, and 6 mg l-1) with three replications. The cadmium concentrations of the pots were measured every day and on the last day of cultivation, plants wet weight, plants dry weight and Cd concentration in plants weremeasured. Then,biomass production, Cd bioconcentration factor (BCF), Cd uptake index, and Cd uptake percentage of plants were calculated. Standard deviations calculationand correlation and regression analysis were performed using Microsoft Office Excel2007 and SPSS 16. One-way ANOVA performed to identify significant differences in metal concentrations in the different treatments. Differences considered significant atp < 0.05.
Results and Discussion: Among three pH (5.5, 7 and 9.5) for plants cultivation, C. demersum L.grewbetter in pH = 7. In fact, the average amount of produced biomasses were 46.6 g (pH = 5.5), 79.6 g (pH = 7) and 68.4 g (pH = 9.5). Therefore, to investigate the Cd remediation, the pH of nutrient solution set equal to 7. The final Cd concentrations in nutrient solution for initial Cd concentrations of 1, 2, 4 and 6 mg l-1 were 0.30, 0.36, 2.76 and 3.85 mg l-11respectively. Moreover, the Cd uptake percentage after 14days cultivation of C. demersum L.in nutrient solution for initial Cd concentrations of 1, 2, 4 and 6 mg l-1 were 70.00, 82.01, 31.00 and 35.83 %respectively. Cd uptake percentage of plants for initial concentrations of 4 and 6 mg l-1weresignificantly lesser than those of 1and 2 mg l-1.The decreased uptake efficiency percentage maybe caused by the effect of Cd toxicity on plant cell membrane permeability and efficiency.The average of BCF in plants for initial Cd concentrations of 1, 2, 4 and 6 mg l-1 were 384.4, 707.9, 66.5 and 75.0respectively. High reduction ofBCF amounts with increasing the initial concentration of 2to 4 and 6mg l-1, maybe caused by cadmium physiological adverse effects on plants. The averages of uptake index in plants were 1.26, 2.95, 2.24 and 3.92 mg for initial Cd concentrations of 1, 2, 4 and 6 mg l-1respectively. The results showed a reduction between 2 and 4 mg l-1concentrations that probablycaused by Cd toxicity disruption on plants uptake mechanism and growth. Moreover, the increase of plants uptake index in initial concentration of 6 mg l-1 could be explain by partial losing of the selective permeability of the plants cell membrane. The maximum (3.60 g/day) and minimum (1.62 g/day) of biomass production related to pollutant concentrations of 0 and 6 mg l-1 respectively, and it shows a greatefect of the Cd on C. demersum L.growth.
Conclusion: The plant accumulated cadmium efficiently, and the remediation efficiency was near to 82%. However, the pollutant removal was not complete in a short time.In total, phytoremediation of cadmium and other pollutants from wastewater or other aqueoussolutions by Ceratophyllumdemersum, as a native aquatic plant of most of Iran’s rivers, could be anefficient and appropriatemethod.
