EFFECT OF SEWAGE ON VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND FLOWERING YIELD OF AFRICAN MARIEGOLD (TAGETES ERRECIA L.)Sundaramoorthy, P., K. Sankar Ganesh, S. Rajesekaran, L. Baskaran, K. Sumathi and P. UnnikannanAbstract The increase in population and urbanization has resulted in the production of huge amount of wastewater. The problems of sewage water disposal can be solved only by effective utilization of this wastewater for agricultural irrigation. But heavy metals like zinc, cadmium, silver, arsenic etc., are present in the sewage. If the untreated sewage water is used for irrigation, the heavy metals directly affect the soil properties and accumulate in the irrigating crops. It directly affects the human health when it is consumed. Therefore, the sewage water can be used for irrigation purposes for the cultivation of non-edible plants like flowering plants.The present investigation was carried out to find out the irrigational response of sewage water on growth and yield of African mariegold (Tagetes errecta L.). Field experiments were conducted with African mariegold by irrigating the sewage water as well as well water (control). The various morphological growth parameters such as root length, shoot length, number of branches, number of leaves, total leaf area and their dry weight were recorded at 30, 60 and 90 days after sowing (DAS).The yield parameters viz., number of flowers per plant, flower yield, flower diameter and 100 flower weight were recorded at 90 DAS. The study reveals that flowering plants had the greater growth rate and yield in sewage water irrigation when compared to control.
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