M. T. Islam
Department of Irrigation and Water Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202.
A. K. M. Adham
Department of Irrigation and Water Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202.
D. Islam
Department of Irrigation and Water Management, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202.
Fertilizer, Irrigation, Soil, Wastewater, Wheat
Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh.
Crop-Soil-Water Management
Wheat, Contamination of soil
An experiment was carried out at the central farm of the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh (24.75° N latitude and 90.50° E longitude), during the period from November 2013 through March 2014 to investigate the effects of irrigation by dairy wastewater on wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. BARI "Shatabdi") production and soil health under different fertilizer doses. The soil of the experimental field is silt loam underlain by sandy loam, and it belongs to the Old Brahmaputra Floodplain (BARC, 2005) with bulk density, electrical conductivity, initial pH, organic matter, average field capacity and permanent wilting point of 1.33 g cm-3, 0.23 dS m-1, 7.73, 0.48%, 38.19% (v/v) and 18.37% (v/v), respectively. During the growing season of wheat, there was only 27.70 mm rainfall. Two factors (irrigation as the main factor and fertilizer as the sub factor) were evaluated in the experiment. The irrigation treatments- I1: Irrigation with fresh water, I2: Irrigation with mixed water (fresh water: wastewater = 1:1) and I3: Irrigation with raw wastewater. The fertilizer treatments were- F0: no application of fertilizer, F1: half dose fertilizer and F2: full dose fertilizer. The experiment was laid out in a split-plot design with three replications of the treatments. Two different doses of fertilizers were applied to the experimental plots; one half and full dose of recommend fertilizer. Two-thirds of urea (104.16 g plot-1) and full doses of the other fertilizers-Triple Super Phosphate (96 g plot-1), Muriate of Potash (66 g plot-1), Gypsum (65 g plot-1), Zinc sulphate (4.8 g plot-1) and Borax (3 g plot-1) were applied to the selected nine plots (size: 3m x 2m) as basal dose during last ploughing. At the same time two-thirds of urea (52.08 g plot-1) and half doses of the other fertilizers-Triple Super Phosphate (48 g plot-1), Muriate of Potash (33 g plot-1), Gypsum (32.5 g plot-1), Zinc sulphate (2.4 g plot-1) and Borax (1.5 g plot-1) were applied to the other nine plots. The rest of urea for full dose (52.08 g plot-1) and half dose (26.04 g plot-1) was top dressed after 24 DAS. No fertilizer was applied to the other remaining nine plots. The wheat seeds (120 kg ha-1) were sown in furrows with a spacing of 20 cm during ‘Joe’ condition on 30 November 2013. Weeds were controlled by uprooting before application of irrigation. First weeding was done after 38 DAS and second weeding was done after 61 DAS. Adequate soil moisture content was available in the field at CRI stage. Three irrigations, the first (1.17 cm) at 40 DAS, second (1.70 cm) at 63 DAS and third (5 cm) at 85 DAS were applied to each plot. The quality parameters of the dairy farm’s wastewater used for irrigation pH, electrical conductivity (EC), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH3 -N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3 -N), nitrite nitrogen (NO2 -N), phosphorus (P), phosphate (PO4), phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), boron (B), zinc (Zn) and potassium (K) were measured very carefully to determine the quality of the wastewater. The volumetric soil moisture content was measured at sowing (0.35) and harvesting (0.23) with a digital soil moisture meter. The quality parameters of the irrigated soil electrical conductivity (EC), pH, organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen, phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) were recorded very carefully. A harvest area of 1 m × 1 m was selected in the middle portion of each plot and then the matured crop was harvested by cutting the plants at ground level. The harvested crop of each plot was bundled separately and tagged. The data on plant population (plants per square meter), plant height at harvest, number of tillers per plant and weight of 1000 grains (dried at 12% moisture content) were recorded. Grain yield, straw yield, biological yield, harvest index and field water use efficiency (FWUE) for different treatments were calculated. The growth and yield attributes of wheat and the quality parameters of the irrigated soil were tabulated in proper forms for statistical analyzes. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done. MSTAT-C computer package was used to carry out the statistical analysis.
J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 8(2): 157-162, 2015, ISSN 1999-7361.
Journal