Abstract
ABSTRACTThe present study investigated the effect of irrigation with Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah domestic sewage water on the desert shrub Calotropis procera. Five treatments including distilled, well water, untreated (T0), primary (T1), secondary (T2) and tertiary (T3) treated sewage waters were used to irrigate the plants. The chemical and physical properties of different sewage waters were determined. A number of growth parameters including % germination, plant height, leaf number, fresh and dry weights of leaves, stems, roots and whole plant. Root:Shoot ratio was also determined. Some physiological parameters such as photosynthetic rate, initial fluorescence Fo, maximum fluorescence Fm and quantum yield Fv/Fm, and chlorophyll content index were measured. Most growth and physiological parameters were increased in response to irrigation with treated and untreated sewage waters. Carbohydrate content was increased under treatment with T0 but decreased under T2 and T3; while protein content was increased under most of sewage water treatments. In contrast, proline levels showed no change. The levels of heavy metals in sewage water were in trace amounts. The possibility of using sewage water as a potential and sustainable alternative water resource for irrigating non-crop plants for multiple uses is discussed.
Highlights
Water is considered the most important life support element for every organism, as it enters in the composition of the body, and plays a key role in its internal and external interactions
The levels of NH3–N, NO3–N, chloride and manganese decreased with the sewage water treatments; T3 still showed slightly higher levels of NH3–N and chloride compared to the acceptable standards
In the case of well water, most parameters were lower compared to that of sewage water, with the exception of TDS showing higher level than T1, T2 and T3. Heavy metals such as Cadmium, Lead and Arsenic were at sufficiently low concentrations as to be undetectable by the analytical method used in the present study; extensive use of sewage water for irrigation may lead to accumulation of the undetectable trace amounts
Summary
Water is considered the most important life support element for every organism, as it enters in the composition of the body, and plays a key role in its internal and external interactions. According to the FAO, water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges of our times and it is defined as an excess of water demand over available supply [2]. The United Nation defined water scarcity as “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water” [3]. The increase in population, the expansion of urbanization, the improvement in the standard of living and the multiplicity of uses of water are among the most prominent outcomes of this development, which created a gap between supply and demand in terms of the provision of water for human use. The per capita water supply is expected to decrease from 277 m3 in 2000 to 113 m3 in 2025 [4]
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