Effectiveness of Vetiver (Vetiver zizanioides) in Purifying Wastewater from Pig Farm

Abstract

Livestock production such as piggery projects is one of the causes of the world’s environmental problems. Untreated wastewater can cause harm to the environment and public health. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Vetiver zizanioides in purifying swine wastewater. These plants were grown in plastic drums for 5 weeks to find out the changes on the physico-chemical characteristics of the wastewater in terms of pH, nitrate, phosphorous, BOD5 and TSS as well as its growth in terms of its height in shoots and in length of roots after 5 weeks of cultivation. Results revealed that vetiver grass was effective in purifying swine wastewater as gleaned from the percentage removal efficiency which was highest in biochemical oxygen demand (96.85 %), followed closely by nitrate (96.51 %), total suspended solids (65.01 %) and phosphorous (55.92 %). The vetiver grass thrived in swine wastewater placed in pots and in the facultative pond. The height of shoots were increased from 20 cm to an average of 33.5 cm while the length of roots also increased from 10 cm to 36.83 cm after 5 weeks of cultivation in pot trial. During the field experiment, the vetiver plant was able to adapt and tolerate the swine wastewater as evidenced by the height of its shoots and length of roots of 32.3 cm and 45.6 cm after 9 weeks of cultivation.