Effects of Different Treated Wastewater Levels on Maize Germinated in Hydroponic Environment

Year 2025, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 172 - 177, 15.03.2025

Murat Karaer

https://doi.org/10.47115/bsagriculture.1624429

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different treated wastewater levels on maize germination in a hydroponic system. The experiment was conducted in the plant growth chamber of Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University laboratories using a randomized complete block design. Five irrigation treatments were applied, consisting of treated wastewater levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. The results demonstrated that higher levels of treated wastewater (75% and 100%) negatively impacted parameters such as green forage yield, shoot length, and root length. Conversely, the best outcomes were observed at the 25% treated wastewater level, which significantly enhanced plant growth metrics. The highest green fodder yield as 13745.9 g m-2, dry matter yield as 1559.54 g m-2 and plant height as 15.99 cm were obtained from TWW25 subject. These findings indicate that moderate levels of treated wastewater can be effectively utilized in hydroponic systems to optimize maize growth while minimizing potential adverse effects associated with higher wastewater concentrations.

Keywords

Treated waste water, Germination, Hydroponic system

Ethical Statement

Ethics committee approval was not required for this study because there was no study on animals or humans.

References

• Angelakis AN, Asano T, Bahri A, Jimenez BE, Tchobanoglous G. 2018. Water reuse: from ancient to modern times and the future. Front. Environ. Sci, 6, 26.
• Atak M, Kaya MD, Kaya G, Çikili Y, Çiftçi CY. 2006. Effects of NaCl on the germination, seedling growth, and water uptake of triticale. Turk. J. Agric. For., 30(1): 39-47.
• Brown AK, Wong CS. 2018. Distribution and fate of pharmaceuticals and their metabolite conjugates in a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Water Res, 144: 774-783.
• Capra A, Scicolone B. 2007. Recycling of poor-quality urban wastewater by drip irrigation systems. J Clean Prod, 15(16): 1529-1534.
• Çatak E, Korkmaz F. 2024. Effects of dye wastewater on germination and plant development of some solanaceae family members. Süleyman Demirel Univ. J. Nat. Appl Sci 28(3): 483-489.
• Daifi H, Alemad A, Khadmaoui A, El hadi M, El kharrim K, Belghyti D. 2015. Effect of purified industrial wastewater on the growth of tomato plant (Lycopersicon esculentum). Int. J. Pure App. Biosci. 3 (4), 57-64.
• Daud MK, Hassan S, Azizullah A, Jamil M, Rehan N, Irum R, Qaiser MK, Zhu SJ. 2016. Physiological, biochemical, and genotoxic effects of wastewater on maize seedlings. Pol J Environ Stud, 25(2): 563-571.
• Gassama UM, Puteh AB, Abd-Halim MR, Kargbo B. 2015. Influence of municipal wastewater on rice seed germination, seedling performance, nutrient uptake, and chlorophyll content. J Crop Sci Biotechnol, 18: 9-19.
• Karaşahin M. 2014. Kaba yem kaynağı olarak hidroponik arpa çimi üretiminde kuru madde ve ham protein verimleri üzerine farklı uygulamaların etkileri. ISUBÜ ZFD 9 (1):27-33
• Kardes YM, Karaer M, Köse ÖDE, Mut Z. 2020. The effect of treated wastewater applications on germination and seedling growth in three different corn (Zea Mays L.) Cultivar. BSEU J. Sci, 7(1): 113-120.
• Kılıç Ü. 2016. Hydroponic Systems in Forage Production. TURJAF, 4(9), 793-799.
• Lopez A, Rodríguez-Chueca J, Mosteo R, Gómez J, Rubio E, Goni P, Ormad MP. 2019. How does urban wastewater treatment affect the microbial quality of treated wastewater? Process Saf Environ Prot, 130: 22-30.
• Mengü GP, Sensoy S, Akkuzu E. 2008. Effects of global climate change on agriculture and water resources. Balwois-Ohrid, May 27-31, Republic of Macedonia, pp. 143.
• Naik PK, Dhuri RB, Swain BK, Singh NP. 2012. Nutrient changes with the growth of hydroponics fodder maize. Indian J Anim Nutr, 29(2): 161-163.
• Pedrero F, Alarcón JJ. 2009. Effects of treated wastewater irrigation on lemon trees. Desalination, 246(1-3): 631-639.
• Pedrero F, Kalavrouziotis I, Alarcón JJ, Koukoulakis P, Asano T. 2010. Use of treated municipal wastewater in irrigated agriculture: A review of some practices in Spain and Greece. Agric. Water Manag., 97: 1233-1241.
• Pedrero F, Maestre-Valero JF, Mounzer O, Alarcón JJ, Nicolás E. 2014. Physiological and agronomic mandarin tree performance under saline reclaimed water combined with regulated deficit irrigation. Agric. Water Manag., 146: 228-237.
• Ramana S, Biswas AK, Kundu S, Saha JK, Yadav RBR. 2002. Effect of distillery effluent on seed germination in some vegeTable crops. Biores Technol, 82: 273-275.
• Resh HM. 2022. Hydroponic food production: a definitive guidebook for the advanced home gardener and the commercial hydroponic grower. CRC Press, New York, USA, 8th ed., pp. 512.
• Rusan MJ, Hinnawi S, Rousan L. 2007. Long term effect of wastewater irrigation of forage crops on soil and plant quality parameters. Desalination, 215: 143-152.
• Sharma N, Acharya S, Kumar K, Singh N, Chaurasia OP. 2018. Hydroponics as an advanced technique for vegeTable production: An overview. JSWC, 17(4), 364-371.
• Smith JP, Boyd TJ, Cragan J, Ward MC. 2021. Dissolved rubidium to strontium ratio as a conservative tracer for wastewater effluent-sourced contaminant inputs near a major urban wastewater treatment plant. Water Res, 205: 117691.
• Sneath R, McIntosh F. 2003. Review of hydroponic fodder production for beef cattle. Queensland Government, Department of Primary Industries, Dalby, Queensland.
• Tüfenkçi Ş, Çakmakcı T, Yerli C, Şahin Ü. 2023. Arıtılmış atık suların bitki stres faktörlerine etkisi In: Yılmaz A, Yılmaz H, editors. Bitkilerde stress direncini artırma yöntemleri. İksad puplishing house, Ankara, pp. 201-220.
• Yadav RK, Goyal B, Sharma RK, Dubey SK, Minhas PS. 2002. Post-irrigation impact of domestic sewage effluent on the composition of soils, crops, and groundwater: A case study. Environ Int., 28(6): 481-486.
• Yousaf I, Ali SM, Yasmin A. 2010. Germination and early growth response of Glycine max varieties in textile and paper industry effluents. Pak J Bot, 42: 3857-3863.