Abstract
Palm oil mill contributed a significant benefit to agro-based industry and social-economic for Malaysia. The treated POME sludge was produced from the open treatment ponds and palm oil mill effluent (POME) without any treatment is considered as a polluted wastewater. This study is to determine the effect of POME sludge on Entisols for plant available water (PAW). The data obtained from this study were selected to measure physicochemical parameters (bulk density, porosity, compaction, organic matter), hydraulic parameter (hydraulic conductivity, hydraulic capacity and water retention) to determine the PAW. The POME sludge from different treatment ponds (control, mixing pond, anaerobic pond, facultative pond, algae pond and dumping pond) was applied to the Zea mays (Hibrimas) as a test crops. The results showed that maize treated with POME sludge from the dumping pond indicated significant difference on soil organic matter, bulk density, porosity, soil compaction and plant available water compared to mixing and anaerobic ponds. As a conclusion, POME sludge from the dumping might improve soil physical properties of Entisols. The dumping pond sludge has significant potential to be used as an organic amendment for plant growth in the future.
Highlights
In Malaysia, palm oil industry has contributed almost RM53 billion annually and expected to achieve RM178 billion in 2020 (MPOB, 2010)
The highest bulk density was identified in control (C) (1.44 g cm-3), mixing pond (MP) (1.27 g cm-3), anaerobic pond (ANP) (1.26 g cm-3), facultative pond (FP) (1.23 g cm-3), algae pond (ALP) (1.19 g cm-3) and dumping pond (DP) (1.03 g cm-3)
Khalid et al (1992) clarified that the effect of organic matter on the reduction of dry bulk density in soil was similar to the dumping pond (DP treatment) in this experiment
Summary
In Malaysia, palm oil industry has contributed almost RM53 billion annually and expected to achieve RM178 billion in 2020 (MPOB, 2010). According to MPOB (2015), nearly 415 mills were operating in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak to process all the fresh fruit bunches. It is estimated that nearly 50-60% of palm oil waste is POME (Baharuddin et al, 2010). POME was treated in the treatment ponds before it was discharged into the river. According to Khairuddin et al (2016), the POME sludge was consisted of some nutrients including nitrogen, potassium, sulfur and carbon that can be utilized as an organic fertilizer. It has high moisture content and the pH of 8.4. The heavy metal content was confirmed at the safety level to use and followed the standard requirement by Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO) (2001)
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