A.R. Mhaske, S.S. Balpande and R.M. Khodpage and Maya Raut
Abstract
The limited availability of the freshwater resources for irrigation, recycle and reuse of wastewater is adopted for irrigating the agriculture fields. In order to study the effect of treated domestic wastewater on soil properties, crop yield and nutrient content , a field experiment was conducted during 2012-13 at the experimental farm of the College of Agriculture, Nagpur with two irrigation water treatments namely treated domestic wastewater (TDWW) and well water (WW) by growing cotton and maize as a test crop. The result indicated that, quality of wastewater was suitable for irrigation. Physical and chemical properties were not much influenced by treated wastewater. However the nutrients (NPK) content were slightly increased under TDWW irrigation as compared to WW irrigation. Crop yield increased significantly under TDWW treatment due to enhanced availability of nutrients. Cotton yield was increased by 11.2 per cent whereas the maize grain yield by 10.19 per cent and fodder yield by 10.46 per cent. The micronutrients and heavy metals accumulation in soil and crop biomass were found statistically non significant and also well below the critical limits for the phytotoxicity. The findings give applicable advice to commercial farmers and agricultural researchers for proper management and use of domestic wastewater for agricultural purpose.