Abstract
ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of irrigation with treated wastewater and nitrogen (N) fertilization on the chemical characteristics of a Haplustalf soil cultivated with cotton. An experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in a completely randomized design with four replicates, and arranged in a 5 x 4 factorial. Five doses of N fertilization (0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 kg ha-1) and four sources of irrigation water (freshwater, wastewater treated by an anaerobic reactor, wastewater treated by an anaerobic reactor and post-treated by intermittent sand filter in series, wastewater treated in a septic tank and post-treated by an intermittent sand filter) were tested. Irrigation was daily performed from July 2011 to January 2012 according to the water demand of cotton resulting in a water depth of 620 mm. It was found that, compared with the conventional management with freshwater irrigation, treated wastewater provides greater accumulation of micronutrient, potassium and sodium in the soil, increasing the risk of sodification in irrigated areas.
Highlights
Arid and semiarid regions are characterized by their high evaporation rates, where rainfall exceeds in most part of the year
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of irrigation with treated domestic wastewater and N fertilization on the chemical attributes of a Haplustalf cultivated with upland cotton
The factors consisted of five nitrogen (N) doses in the soil (0, 45, 90, 135 and 180 kg ha-1), equivalent to 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200% of the N doses recommended for the irrigated cotton crop in the region (Cavalcanti, 2008), and four quality types of irrigation water: freshwater, from the public water supply system (FW); wastewater treated in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor; wastewater treated in UASB reactor and post-treated in two 0.5-m-deep intermittent sand filters in series (UASB+ISF); wastewater treated in septic tank and post-treated in 1-m-deep intermittent sand filter (TS+ISF)
Summary
Arid and semiarid regions are characterized by their high evaporation rates, where rainfall exceeds in most part of the year. The application of treated domestic wastewater in the soil-plant system is, an attractive alternative, which allows increasing the available water supply and leverage the agricultural development of drought-affected areas. This practice is beneficial from the environmental point of view, since, for using the soil as a natural filter, it reduces the negative impacts of the excessive discharge of nutrients and contaminants caused by the disposal of these effluents in surface waters (Bame et al, 2014). Many reports in the literature associate the practice of agricultural reuse with increments in crop yields (Leal et al, 2009a), adequate plant nutrition (Bedbabis et al, 2010) and beneficial alterations in soil physical-chemical characteristics, such as increase in fertility (Gwenzi & Munondo, 2008; Bame et al, 2014), reduction of acidity (Leal et al, 2009b; Tarchouna et al, 2010), increment in the contents of organic matter (Rusan et al, 2007; Xu et al, 2010) and improvement in particle aggregation
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