Determination of fiber yield and quality in cotton cultivars, applied with biologically reclaimed greywater

Abstract

Application of recycled municipal wastewater and industrial effluents using biological treatment methods to industrial crops is an ingenious practice to ensure the combined means of adopting sustainable industrial crops production through sustainable freshwater management. An investigation was made to study the effects of recycled greywater treated using the extended form of Effective Microorganisms in the sewage treatment plant, over the growth, biochemical contents, yield and fiber quality of MCU7 and SVPR2 cotton cultivars, grown under experimental conditions. The efficacy of the recycled greywater treatment was compared with ground well water as control and untreated greywater as on another treatment. Improved yield of lint fiber and cotton seeds were obtained with a ginning out turn (GOT) of 71.66% and 66.1% in the SVPR2 and MCU7 cultivars, respectively, when irrigated with recycled greywater. Similarly, both the cotton cultivars, supplied with the recycled greywater was found with a significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) stable length (SL) and fiber strength, as well as significantly higher spinning consistency index (SCI) (P ≤ 0.05) and uniformity ratio, when compared with the other two treatments. The novelty approach, adopted in the experiment therefore can be concluded using the recycled greywater to the specific cotton cultivars in water-deficit agro-climatic conditions would be beneficial to sustain the cotton production, would be in turn benefiting the industries.