Abstract
Efficient utilization, treatment, and disposal of agricultural wastewater and sewage sludge are important environmental risks. In our research, effluent water from intensive aquaculture was evaluated for the irrigation of short rotation energy willow in a lysimeter experiment. Two different water types and their combinations were applied with weekly doses of 15, 30, and 60 mm, respectively. Our results revealed that implementing effluent water instead of fresh water could potentially increase the yield of the willow due to its higher nitrogen content (29 N mg/L). The biomass of irrigated short rotation coppice (SRC) willow plants were between 493–864 g/plant, 226–482 g/plant, and 268–553 g/plant dry weight during experiment period (2015–2017), respectively. However, due to the chemical properties (Na concentration, SAR value) of effluent water, the increase of the soil exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) was significant and it can lead to soil degradation in the long term. The current study also investigated the relationship between chemical composition of the plant tissue and the irrigation water. In the case of K-levels of willow clones, an increasing trend was observed year-by-year. In terms of N and Na content was localized in leaf parts, especially in samples irrigated with effluent. Less N and Na values were detected in the stem and in the samples irrigated with surface water. In SRC willow plants, phosphorus was mostly localized in the stem, to a lower extent in the leaf part. The difference is mostly observed in the case of the amount of irrigation water, where the P content of the examined plant parts decreased with the increase of the amount of irrigation water. In the case of phenological observations, higher values of plant height were measured during diluted and effluent irrigation. Moreover, the SPAD of the plants irrigated with effluent water exceeded the irrigated ones with surface water.
Highlights
Efficient utilization, treatment, and disposal of increasing amounts of wastewater and sewage sludge are major environmental risks in these times
The effect of irrigation water quality on the exchangeable sodium content of the soil can be proved in each soil depth and irrigation water amount
Examining the results measured in different depths of soil layers, we found that sodium accumulated to a lesser extent in the deeper soil layers compared to the surface layers in treatments irrigated with reused water (Table 4), it can be proved only in case of ∆ESP2015–2017 value of E30 treatment between 0–20 cm and 40–60 cm, (n = 3, p = 0.041, independent t-test)
Summary
Treatment, and disposal of increasing amounts of wastewater and sewage sludge are major environmental risks in these times. The size of arable lands where the cultivation of traditional crops (wheat, corn, sunflower) is unprofitable can be estimated at 100,000 hectares [1]. These areas are generally waterlogged, prone to inland excess water formation—which is a temporary water inundation on the agricultural lands due to the heavy rainy activities, sudden snow melting, and heavy soil textures with limited water permeability [2]. The cultivation of fast-growing and short rotation woody crops is possible on all types of soils used for agricultural cultivation [3]. Short rotation coppice (SRC) willow species have significant growth potential and biomass product among them [4] The cultivation of fast-growing and short rotation woody crops is possible on all types of soils used for agricultural cultivation [3]. 4.0/).
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